Four years after independent member Nazir Ahmad Khan was elected chairman of the District Development Council (DDC) in Budgam, he was removed after a no-confidence motion against him was passed by 13 of the 14 members in the Council. The vote took place after the 13 members of the council petitioned the Jammu and Kashmir High Court seeking directions to convene a meeting of the council, since the chairman did not convene a single meeting of the council over the last four years.
The DDCs were envisaged as the third tier of governance in J&K under the Panchayati Raj system. Directly elected from rural constituencies of each district, the DDCs have a developmental mandate working in close coordination with the district administration. Elections to form first such councils were conducted in December 2020 after which the 14 members in each district elected a chairperson and his deputy.
In Budgam, despite a majority for the National Conference, then independent Councillor Nazir Khan won chairmanship. However, a year after he was elected to lead the council, members began protesting against Khan citing his failure to “deliver any kind of developmental goals on the ground.” With the chairperson as the authority for convening a meeting, Council member Abdul Ahad Dar said: “It was convenient for them not to call a meeting at all”.
According to the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, 1989, which governs the creation and conduct of the DDCs, “the Chairperson shall convene at least four meetings of the District Development Council in a financial year, one in each quarter which shall be called the ordinary or general meeting”. Khan, however, failed to convene these meetings.
The matter first went to court in 2024 and despite an order in March last year directing authorities to act on the petitioner’s complaint and a subsequent contempt motion, the council still did not meet.
The 13 members passed a fresh no-confidence motion in December 2024. However, according to Dar, the DC failed to act, compelling the petitioners to move court again. On March 3 this year, Justice Mohammad Yousuf Wani directed the Deputy Commissioner Budgam to “immediately address” the no-confidence motion after which a meeting of the council was scheduled for on April 7, 2025.
Meanwhile, Khan filed a petition seeking a stay on the no-confidence meeting scheduled for April 7 but the petition was dismissed. Following the court’s directive, the meeting was held Monday and Khan was voted out, with all 13 members present supporting the motion.
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The order also calls out the “inaction” on the part of the Deputy Commissioner who has to convene a meeting at the office of the council for consideration of the same.
Among the 10 councils in the Valley, members of at least three more — Shopian, Ganderbal and Srinagar — have suUNccessfully moved no-confidence motions against their chairpersons. The case of Budgam is the first such motion to go through and remove its chairman.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
