The Jammu and Kashmir Bank (JK Bank) Autonomy has been seized by new Governor of J&K – Satya Pal Malik. A day after Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the assembly, the State Administrative Council chaired by Governor decided to turn the J&K Bank Ltd into a public-sector bank, taking its autonomy away and making it accountable to the state legislature.
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Further, it will also be brought under the ambit of the J&K RTI Act and the Central Vigilance Commission. Until now, J&K Bank was classified as an ‘old private sector bank’ and supervised by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Furthermore, it is also subject to oversight by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
Omar Abdullah, the former CM and Jammu and Kashmir called it a “disturbing development” and said the Governor, who is a “caretaker administrator did not have the people’s mandate to take such important decisions with far-reaching implications”.
PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti (the last CM of J&K) described it as a “disturbing step to snatch every bit of autonomy that our institutions have”.
Sajad Lone of People’s Conference said his party’s economic philosophy is decentralisation and total liberalisation. “We believe in smaller government, not more government control. The best thing the government of the day can do is to get out of the way. Any remedies (regarding J&K Bank) should have been institution-specific, rather than invading it with overarching government control. The track record of J&K government PSUs is extremely bad,” he said.
