The Centre has redefined the domicile rules in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, multiple reports claimed. Anyone who has stayed over 15 years in the Union Territory can be a domicile. In section 3A of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Order, the Centre has announced that anyone "who has resided for a period of fifteen years in the UT of J&K or has studied for a period of seven years and appeared in class 10th/12th examination in an educational institution located in the UT of J&K" is now eligible for it, The Indian Express reported. Those registered as migrants and their children will also come under the bracket.
Earlier, Section 35A associated with the abrogated Article 370 had given the legislative assembly of the state the power to define a Jammu and Kashmir resident.
“The children of those central government officials, All India service officials, Officials of Public sector undertaking, autonomous body of central government, public sector banks, officials of statuary bodies officials of central universities and recognized research institutes of central government who have served in J&K for a period of ten years” will also come under the new rules, as per reports.
In August 2019, President Ram Nath Kovind had given assent to a legislation for bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir, and two Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. The Parliament had given its nod to the legislation for bifurcating the state, a decision that seeks to redraw the map and future of a region at the centre of a protracted militancy movement.
In both the Union Territories, key subjects such as law and order will be with the Centre. The UT of Jammu and Kashmir will have a lieutenant governor and the maximum strength of its assembly will be of 107 which will be enhanced to 114 after a delimitation exercise. 24 seats of the Assembly will continue to remain vacant as they fall under Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The current effective strength of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly is 87, including four seats falling in Ladakh region, which will now be a separate UT without a legislature. The UT of Ladakh will have Kargil and Leh districts.
