Though institutional jurisdictions are well defined in the system of governance set up with constitutional mandates in all the states and union territories of the country and same holds good for the people of Jammu & Kashmir but unfortunately institutions work at cross purposes in Jammu & Kashmir the way they were working even before the downgrading of the erstwhile state to two union territories on August 5, 2019. Lately media reports have claimed that police has sent a list of hundreds of illegal constructions in Srinagar to Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) but people wonder how such a move has been initiated by the police when many anti-graft bodies like J&K Anti-Corruption Bureau (J&K ACB) , Crime Branch Of Jammu & Kashmir Police and even National Investigative Agency (NIA) have the constitutional, institutional and administrative mandates to take care of administrative and financial irregularities in government departments, autonomous organizations including civic bodies and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). Interestingly anti-graft bodies like J&K Anti-Corruption Bureau, Crime Branch Of Jammu & Kashmir Police and even National Investigative Agency (NIA) are mostly controlled by senior officers of Indian Police Service (IPS) and as wells as Jammu & Kashmir Police Service and as such people are confused over the intervention of police in the alleged irregularities in hundreds of constructions across the Srinagar city. Surprising is the move of the police for the people because of the timing police has choosen for the intervention in over the irregularities in constructions by SMC as the government has recently splashed notices to hundreds of illegal occupants for raising residential and commercial structures over the state land and Kahcharai land in many parts of Srinagar city during the reigns of many popular governments of erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state in yesteryears.
Since the concern of people overtly and covertly is concerning the working of the two key institutions of governance, intervention of the government alone can by all standards of understandabilities reduce the conflict in the working of the two key institutions of the government. What matters the most is the fact that institutions of governance are supposed to work in coordination and cooperation in the larger public interest but not in cross conflict with the purposes of good governance, accountability and transparency.
It may be mentioned here that Srinagar Mayor Junaid Azim Matoo had taken a fight over building permissions with Joint Commissioner SMC even to the office of the Lt Governor in mid summer months this year and but had to give in under mounting public criticism in the end . The concern of the people is not growing as much over the irregularities in constructions as much it is rising over the violation of institutional jurisdiction by one or the other department over one or the other issue. Since the concern of people overtly and covertly is concerning the working of the two key institutions of governance, intervention of the government alone can by all standards of understandabilities reduce the conflict in the working of the two key institutions of the government. What matters the most is the fact that institutions of governance are supposed to work in coordination and cooperation in the larger public interest but not in cross conflict with the purposes of good governance, accountability and transparency.
