Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Government on Monday sought to put at rest the controversy over issuing Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC) at school level saying it will follow the legal procedure and certificates would not be issued at educational institutions.
“There is no controversy. We will issue the State Subject Certificates according to the legal procedure only and PRCs would not be issued at the school level,” Minister for Roads and Buildings, Altaf Bukhari told reporters here.
Bukhari said the government had taken the decision not to issue the certificates at the school level after receiving complaints and it wanted to streamline the system.
“Ours is a new government and we may be a little inexperienced. So there may be some aberration, but we do not want to do anything which is against the law. There were complaints about the issuance of such certificates, so we thought to streamline the procedure, “he said.
“Some officer might have suggested that we should distribute them at the school level, so we gave it a thought.
Some 40-50 certificates distributed, but they were issued by the proper issuing authority,” Bukhari said.
“Law will not be subverted. Let us put this controversy to rest. There is no such scheme, there will be nothing like that. (And) we do not want to give State Subject Certificates to the people who are not State subjects,” he said.
However, Bukhari said the government checked the PRCs which were issued at a function in Jammu by a BJP MLA and found them right.
“We have checked those certificates which were issued at a function and found that they have been issued by the respective Tehsildars and Deputy Commissioners. Yes, they were distributed by someone, but there is no controversy,” he said. The minister also said there was a perfect coordination between the coalition partners and PDP-led government would work for betterment of the State.
“There is perfect coordination between the PDP and the BJP. We are two parties with two (different) ideologies and have come together for the betterment of the State. And we are governing on the agenda of the people,” he said.
Asked whether the government would allow the Secretariat Gherao called by Congress Party on the opening of the Civil Secretariat here tomorrow, Bukhari said “dissent is the soul of the democracy”.
“It is good. If the mainstream parties want to do such things, they can. Dissent is the soul of the democracy,” the minister said.
On a question of a face lift to the city ahead of the ‘Darbar Move’, he said “it is our duty to keep the city clean”.
“It (opening of Civil Secretariat here) is a moment to be happy and something should be done at the time of happiness. I want to assure you that no money is being spent on wrong things. Some things are necessary. Srinagar is not just a city. It is a tourist destination. It is our duty to keep the city clean,” Bukhari said.