Kashmir: Change of status.

Modi govt okays changes to J&K domicile status; to alter Kashmir demography

If you study in J&K for 7 years, give Class 10 or 12 exam, you'll be eligible

Agency Report | New Delhi | 20 May, 2020 | 11:00 PM

The Union Cabinet gives its ex-post facto approval for the Jammu and Kashmir (Adaptation of State Laws) Second Order, 2020, on specified domicile conditions for all levels of public sector jobs in the region. Until J&K was stripped of its special status granted under Article 370 and it was bifurcated into two union territories on 5 August last year, Article 35 A of the Constitution empowered the state assembly to define a J&K resident. Only J&K residents were eligible to apply for jobs or own immovable property in the erstwhile state.

The Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the order issued under Section 96 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.

The Jammu and Kashmir (Adaptation of State Laws) Second Order, 2020, was notified by the Union Home Ministry on April 3. The order has further modified the applicability of domicile conditions for all levels of jobs in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir under the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Decentralisation and Recruitment) Act (Act No. XVI of 2010), an official statement said.

However, the government note did not mention any further details. The Cabinet nod came almost a month after the Central government in a historic decision changed the Jammu and Kashmir domicile rules, issuing an order declaring that all civil servant jobs in the newly created UT will be reserved for its residents.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had announced it through a Gazette notification making changes in the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Decentralization and Recruitment) Act, 2010.

As per the order, the civil servant will be a “domicile of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir”.

This was the second change in the Jammu and Kashmir domicile rule. The Narendra Modi government in a similar notification on April 1 had redefined the domicile rule for government jobs in the newly-created UT through the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Order, 2020.

According to the notification, anyone who has resided in J&K for 15 years or has studied in the state for seven years, and appeared in either Class 10 or Class 12 examination, will be eligible for domicile certificates. This would allow them to apply for gazetted and non-gazetted government jobs.

The J&K administration had on Monday issued new rules allowing people belonging to West Pakistan, Valmikis, women marrying outside their communities, non-registered Kashmiri migrants and displaced people to get domicile status.

As per the Jammu and Kashmir Grant of Domicile Certificate (Procedure) Rules, 2020, the children of such people in these categories can now also get jobs in the Union Territory.

In the gazette notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs in April, classified as “extraordinary”, the repealed the J&K Civil Services (special provisions) Act.

It also introduced changes in Sections 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 13 of the J&K Civil Services (decentralisation and recruitment) Act, 2010. The Act is among 109 laws of the erstwhile state that were amended through the order that also repeals 29 other laws.

While Section 5A now states that no person shall be eligible for appointment to a post carrying a pay scale for not more than Level 4 “unless he is a domicile of UT of J&K”, in Sections 6, 7 and 8 the words “permanent resident of the State” have been substituted with “Domicile of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir”. These sections of the J&K Civil Services Act, 2010, dealt with appointments at district, divisional and state levels.

According to the new rules, children of officials with the central government, all India services, public sector undertakings, public sector banks, statutory bodies, central universities and recognised research institutes of the central government who have served in J&K for 10 years will also be eligible to apply for gazetted and non-gazetted government jobs in the UT.

The new rules have also been extended to children of those who fulfil the above mentioned criteria even if they do not live in J&K.