Public perceptions matter whether it is the case policy making or implementation of the decisions taken for the welfare of the people. Administrative wisdom demands that policies designed for the welfare of the people are put in public domain to solicit the views of people for the purposes of getting their feedback for implementation of the policies. By all standards of understandabilities the feedback of the people is used for the implementation of the policies in any state or union territory of the country and same holds good for the Jammu & Kashmir Government. Never forget that representation and responsiveness lay foundation for the implementation of any policy in any part of the world and same holds good for the people of Jammu & Kashmir. While public representatives reserve the right to seek protection of the rights of the people before the Government, there is no scope for any Government to deny a debate on any public policy raised by public representatives. In Jammu & Kashmir the Government has come out with a notification on implementation of property tax. The public representatives of civic bodies have opposed the procedures but not the process pursued by the Government on implementation of property tax in Jammu & Kashmir.
The propositions of the Government and the opposition by the public representatives of municipal bodies would surely take both the Government and public representatives to a final agreement on the issue of property tax in Jammu & Kashmir. After all priorities of the public stand at the centre of policymaking in Jammu & Kashmir Government like the Government of all states and union territories of the country.
Since the Government has planned to utilise the property tax through the municipal bodies for the purposes of improving the delivery of civic services in cities and towns, administrative wisdom demands that Government solicits the views of the public representatives of the very civic bodies before implementing the proposed propert tax in Jammu & Kashmir. Since the public representatives of the municipal bodies won’t in any way tend to go against the public perceptions on the implementation of proposed property tax in Jammu & Kashmir, It is imperative for the Government to respect the views of the public representatives of the municipal bodies and debate with them all the issues of urban civic governance which have a direct bearing on the accessibility of people to basic civic services in cities and towns across Jammu & Kashmir. It is not merely the issue of collecting property tax from the people in cities and towns of Jammu & Kashmir but it is largely an issue of institutionalising the procedures and processes for the delivery of basic civic services in Jammu & Kashmir. The propositions of the Government and the opposition by the public representatives of municipal bodies would surely take both the Government and public representatives to a final agreement on the issue of property tax in Jammu & Kashmir. After all priorities of the public stand at the centre of policymaking in Jammu & Kashmir Government like the Government of all states and union territories of the country.
