In a major decision that will go a long way in further modernization of Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) and bringing it at par with Delhi Police, the Union Ministry of Finance has cleared the proposal for inclusion of JKP budget within the budget grants of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on the lines of Delhi Police. The Ministry has sought entire data from the Home Department and the Jammu and Kashmir Police for seamless transition of the JKP budget from UT to the Union budget. Official sources told about the proposal for inclusion of budget of Jammu and Kashmir Police within the budget grants of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, has been agreed in principle by the Department of Economic Affairs, Union Ministry of Finance headed by Nirmala Sitharaman. And this will be done from the current year itself as Sitharaman is likely to present first budget of Modi 3.0 Government on July 22. The Finance Minister had taken Vote-on-Account in January-February session of the Parliament ahead of general elections in the country. She will also present full budget of Jammu and Kashmir in July-August session as she had taken Vote-on-Account only for the Union Territory.
“To ensure seamless transition of the Jammu and Kashmir Police budget from Union Territory to Union budget, the Finance Department of the Centre has advised the Home Department to complete certain formalities,’’ the sources said. The formalities include ensuring proper inclusion of the balance budget for 2024-25 for adoption in the budget of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on the lines of Delhi Police and putting in place, in coordination with CCA of the Union Home Ministry, the mechanism for release of budget, delegation of financial powers and expenditure management under various heads for smooth operations of J&K Police starting from the Union budget approval.
Sources said the Central Government decision will go a long way in strengthening and modernization of Jammu and Kashmir Police as it’s budget will go up significantly once the budget is brought under the MHA on the lines of Delhi Police. “Budget of Delhi Police is far more than Jammu and Kashmir Police. However, with the inclusion of JKP budget with the budget grants of the MHA, the JKP’s budget will witness significant increase which will help police to further strengthen and modernize itself to meet the challenges of terrorism, radicalization, cyber crime, narcotics, threats from across the border etc,’’ the sources said. “In addition to Revenue/Capex (Capital Expenditure) budget of the Home Department, there is pension component which is paid by the Jammu and Kashmir Bank in advance to the retirees and the Finance Department reimburse the same to J&K Bank on monthly basis. Now after the transition of JKP budget from UT to Union budget, pension part paid to retirees of the Home Department is required to be reimbursed by the MHA instead of the Finance Department,’’ the sources said.
In this case, they said, there is a need to segregate the pension in two parts—one paid to the retirees of the Home Department and other to retirees of other departments at the treasury level so that separate claim of retirees of Home Department can be lodged with MHA for reimbursement. Sources said the treasuries across Jammu and Kashmir are likely to be asked to have separate data base of retirees of Home Department and convey approximate figures so that they can be communicated to the MHA.
