Centre asserts LG’s exclusive authority on J&K Assembly nominations
Terms PIL ‘politically motivated’, urges HC to dismiss plea with costs
STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: The Union Government has come down heavily on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the Lieutenant Governor’s authority to nominate members to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, calling it a “politically motivated” attempt to disrupt the democratic process in the Union Territory.
The Union Government has told the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh that the Lieutenant Governor (LG) alone holds the authority to nominate members to the Legislative Assembly, without the aid or advice of the Council of Ministers.
In an affidavit filed before the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the petition – moved by Ravinder Kumar Sharma, Senior Vice President and Chief Spokesperson of the J&K Pradesh Congress Committee is based on “imaginary apprehensions” and “devoid of any actual cause of action.”
The PIL contests Sections 15, 15A, and 15B of the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, which empower the LG to nominate two women members, two representatives from the Kashmiri Migrant community (including one woman), and one member from among displaced persons of Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK). The petitioner alleged these powers could be used to alter Assembly majorities.
Rejecting this claim, the Centre said no such situation arose in the 2024 Assembly polls. It asserted that the 2023 amendments introducing these provisions were designed to provide long-denied political representation to historically displaced groups and underrepresented communities, not to manipulate legislative numbers.
Quoting Supreme Court judgments in K. Lakshminarayanan vs Union of India (2020) and Government of NCT of Delhi vs Office of the LG of Delhi (2024), the affidavit argued that the LG’s nomination powers are a statutory function exercised independently of the elected Council of Ministers, “outside the realm of the business of the elected government of J&K.”
The government also clarified that the Assembly’s total strength stands at 119 – 114 elected seats plus five nominated seats – and dismissed as “misconceived” the petitioner’s claim that the nominations breach the sanctioned strength.
Urging dismissal of the PIL at the threshold, the Centre asked the court to impose exemplary costs, warning against the misuse of PIL jurisdiction for “personal or political ambitions under the guise of public interest.” The matter will be heard further in the coming weeks.
