Jammu, Sept 6 (PTI) All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC) on Monday appealed to the Lieutenant governor and the Centre to bring an immediate amendment in the J&K Panchayati Raj Act.

The apex body of panchayat leaders in the union territory asked for the amendment to do away with the “arbitary” provision of bringing No Confidence Motion (NCM) against the elected PRI members including sarpanches, chairpersons of block and district development councils.

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AJKPC President Anil Sharma said the act in force gave illogical powers to one section of the elected members to bring the NCM against the other elected members whereas both are elected independently, citing the example of elected sarpanches.

Presently, the act allows panches to bring NCM against an elected sarpanch, who is otherwise directly elected by votes and panches have no role in elections of the sarpanch, Sharma said.

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Only the public should have the right to call back their elected representative or the Gram Sabha should have the power to pass the NCM against an elected sarpanch, he added.

Similarly, for bringing NCM against the BDC chairperson, only the sarpanches should be allowed to bring No Confidence Motion against them as sarpanches of a block elect the chairperson, he explained.

The AJKPC President also raised the issue of sarpanch Reena Choudhary of Panchayat Pangdour of Samba district, who has been “victimised because of personal grudges and on irrational and unverified allegation”. The local panches brought No Confidence Motion in the BDC Council Samba against Choudhary, he said.

Sharma called for full support of AJKPC to the said sarpanch and urged the Deputy Commissioner of Samba and LG Manoj Sinha to look into the matter so the elected woman is not harassed unnecessarily.

Sharma also expressed concern over the “continuous confinement of dozens of sarpanches and panches” of Kashmir in hotels and lodges by the administration and demanded their immediate release.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)