Jammu, May 28: J&K Legislative Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather Wednesday announced the constitution of nine panels, including three financial committees of the House.
With regard to three Financial Committees ñ Committee on Public Accounts (PAC), Committee on Estimates and Committee on Public Undertakings (PUC), Rather stated that though the election notification was issued to elect members of these panels yet no MLA filed nomination papers within the stipulated period of time.
Hence following consensus amongst all political parties, the names of Members were projected instead of holding elections.
The other six panels constituted by the Speaker through separate six notifications included the Committee on Environment; Committee on Subordinate Legislation; Committee on Privileges; Committee on Petitions; Committee on Government Assurances and Ethics Committee.
Announcing the names of Members for three financial committees of the House, Rather pointed out that the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly at its sitting held on March 25, 2025, adopted Motions regarding the election to three Financial Committees of the House.
ìSubsequently a notification dated March 25, 2025 was issued in terms of Regulation No 2(1) of the Regulations for conducting elections to the Financial Committees of the House according to the principle of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote indicating the schedule for holding the elections,î the Speaker said.
He said that in terms of Regulation 2(1)(e) of these Regulations, Bilal Ahmad Bhat, Additional Secretary was appointed to act as Returning Officer for the purpose but no member of the House belonging to any political party filed nomination papers within the stipulated period.
ìLater, a consensus has been built up amongst all Legislature Parties in the House to project the names of their Members following the Principle of Proportional Representation to serve on these Financial Committees for the year 2025-2026, instead of holding elections,î Speaker said.
ìTherefore, in relaxation of provisions contained in the Regulations for Conducting Elections to the Committees of the House according to the Principle of Proportional Representation using single transferable vote, I am declaring the Members to serve on the three Financial Committees for the period ending March 31, 2026,î Rather notified.
As per the notification, the 11-member Public Accounts Committee will have BJP MLA Sham Lal Sharma as its chairman while MLAs Mubarik Gul (NC); Tariq Hameed Karra (Congress); Nazir Ahmed Khan Gurezi (NC); Balwant Singh Mankotia (BJP); Qaiser Jamshaid Lone (NC); Altaf Ahmed Wani Kaloo (NC); Javid Hassan Baig (NC); Devinder Kumar Manyal (BJP); Sajad Shaheen (NC) and Muzaffar Iqbal Khan (independent) will be its members.
Second Financial Committee i.e., 11-member Estimates Committee will have NC MLA Shamim Firdous as its chairperson. Besides it will comprise MLAs Ghulam Ahmad Mir (Congress); Abdul Majeed Bhat Larmi (NC); Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Mir (NC); Pawan Kumar Gupta (BJP); Prof Gharu Ram Bhagat (BJP); Aijaz Ahmed Jan (NC); Shafi Ahmad Wani (NC); Chander Prakash Ganga (BJP); Payare Lal Sharma (independent) and Arjun Singh Raju (NC) as members.
The third financial panel that is an 11-member Public Undertaking Committee will have NC MLA Ali Mohammad Sagar as its chairman while Saifullah Mir (NC); Ali Mohammad Dar (NC); Baldev Raj Sharma (BJP); Mir Mohammad Fayaz (PDP); Shakti Raj Parihar (BJP); Ranbir Singh Pathania (BJP); Bashir Ahmad Shah Veeri (NC); Showkat Hussain Ganie (NC); Saif Ud Din Bhat (NC) and Tanvir Sadiq (NC) will be its members.
In the exercise of the powers conferred by Clause 1 of Appendix-I to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the J&K Legislative Assembly, the Speaker nominated eleven members to serve on the Committee on Environment for the period ending March 31, 2026, with CPI-M MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami as its chairman. Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed (Congress); Rajiv Jasrotia (BJP); Sajjad Shafi (NC); Peerzada Feroze Ahmad (NC); Zafar Ali Khatana (NC); Khurshied Ahmed (AIP); Mushtaq Guroo (NC); Irshad Rasool Kar (NC); Yudhvir Sethi (BJP) and Darshan Kumar (BJP).
In the exercise of the powers conferred by Sub-rule (1) of Rule 355 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Rather nominated nine members of the Legislative Assembly to serve on the Committee on Subordinate Legislation for the period ending March 31, 2026, with NC MLA Hasnain Masoodi as its chairman.
Reyaz Ahmad Khan (NC); Hilal Akbar Lone (NC); Shabir Ahmad Kullay (independent); Satish Kumar Sharma (BJP); Kuldeep Raj Dubey (BJP); Rajeev Kumar (BJP); Irfan Hafiz Lone (Congress) and Rameshwar Singh (independent) will be its members. In the exercise of the powers conferred by Rule 350 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, the Speaker nominated nine members of the Legislative Assembly to serve on the Committee on Privileges for the period ending March 31, 2026, with Congress MLA Nizamuddin Bhat as its chairman.
The committee will comprise Vikram Randhawa (BJP); Reyaz Ahmad Khan (NC); Salman Sagar (NC); Sheikh Ahsan Ahmed Pardesi (NC); Javaid Riyaz (NC); Javaid Iqbal (NC); Narinder Singh Raina (BJP) and Bharat Bhushan (BJP) as its members.
In exercise of the powers conferred by Rule 341 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Rather nominated seven members of the Legislative Assembly to serve on the Committee on Petitions for the period ending March 31, 2026.
These include Pirzada Farooq Ahmed Shah (NC) as chairman; Mushtaq Guroo (NC); Salman Sagar (NC); Waheed Ur Rehman Para (PDP); Mian Mehar Ali (NC); Vijay Kumar (BJP) and Thakur Randhir Singh (BJP).
In the exercise of the powers conferred by Rule 361 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, the Speaker nominated nine members of the Legislative Assembly to serve on the Committee on Government Assurances for the period ending March 31, 2026.
Peoples Conference MLA Sajad Gani Lone will be chairman while Choudhary Mohammed Akram (independent); Javaid Ahmad Mirchal (NC); Iftikhar Ahmed (Congress); Hilal Akbar Lone (NC); Mian Mehar Ali (NC); Mohan Lal (BJP); Sunil Bhardwaj (BJP) and Shagun Parihar (BJP).
In exercise of the powers conferred by Clause 1 of Appendix-I to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in J&K Legislative Assembly, the Speaker nominated eleven members to serve on the Ethics Committee for a period ending March 31, 2026, with BJP MLA Surjeet Singh Slathia as its chairman. Its members will include Javaid Iqbal (NC); Sheikh Ahsan Ahmed Pardesi (NC); Zafar Ali Khatana (NC); Rafi Ahmad Naik (PDP); Sajjad Shafi (NC); Arvind Gupta (BJP); Daleep Singh (BJP); Surinder Kumar (BJP); Khursheed Ahmad Sheikh (AIP) and Mehraj Malik (AAP).
