Former chief minister and PDP leader, Mehbooba Mufti, on Saturday asked Governor Satya Pal Malik to rollback his decision of turning the J-K Bank Ltd into a public sector bank and also bringing it within the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
“The Governor is not mandated by the people of the state to take such decisions,” she said.
In a statement, Mehbooba alleged that the Governor’s decisions smack of attempts to fiddle with the basic characters of the state’s special status.
The State Administrative Council (SAC) headed by the Governor had on Thursday turned the Bank into public sector and also brought it under the RTI Act so as to bring transparency in its functioning as the bank has from time to time remained in controversy on the issue of recruitment of staff.
Mehbooba said that the autonomy of the bank has been taken away by the SAC.
“It is not for a set of bureaucrats and civil servants to take decisions of far reaching consequences in the state. These things have to be left to democratically elected government in Jammu and Kashmir,” she said.
The PDP chief said there are assaults on multiple fronts are being launched against Jammu-Kashmir’s special status and the Governor’s administration is taking away autonomy of institutions that J-K enjoyed.
She added that the J-K Bank is part of this game-plan and this was the reason PDP came together with NC and Congress to form a government and prevent such interventions.
Mehbooba said the Governor Rule in the state is not a permanent arrangement and the administration must concentrate on day-to-day functioning of the state and desist from taking decisions of far reaching consequences.
“Such actions raise apprehensions among the people of the state who already feel alienated and angry and to thwart such attempts, PDP decided to stake claim for the government formation but that was too undemocratically foiled by the Governor,” Mehboba alleged while asking Governor Satya Pal Malik to review his decisions and roll them back at the earliest.