The Union Government on Friday reversed its previous notification on the jobs and domicile rules for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and also postponed its decision to restore 4G internet services in the valley.
It was only on Wednesday that the Centre had notified the Jobs and domicile rules for the Union Territory.
As per the original notification, a person residing in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir for a period of 15 years shall be considered a domicile of the territory.
As far as jobs were concerned, all high-level jobs in the territory were thrown open to all citizens of India and not just the domiciles of the UT. However, the lower level jobs such as clerical posts were reserved for the domiciles.
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This led to a unification of all political parties including the state BJP unit who lashed out at the Union Government. The Centre now has reserved all jobs in the UT for its domiciles only.
Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had tweeted his disapproval of the previous notification.
On Friday, the Principal Secretary (Home) Shaleen Kabra also said that the ban on 4G internet and telephony services shall continue till April 15.
He added that the restoration of 2G services were adequate to cater to basic services and that it wasn’t hampering the relief work being carried out in view of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Internet services had been suspended since August 5 when the Parliament abrogated Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that conferred a ‘special status’ on the former state and also rescinded the operation of Article 35 A (which gave the state government the powers to decide on who constituted ‘a subject of the state’).
Internet services (2G) were finally restored in January after the Supreme Court questioned the wisdom of suspending the net for such a prolonged time without any formal notification.