The Rajya Sabha on Monday passed unanimously the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 with voice vote amending key laws in the Union Territory aimed at providing “rights to those who faced injustice”.
The significant legislative move on the sixth day of the Parliament’s Winter Session witnessed various Opposition leaders raising issues to reinstate the statehood of the erstwhile state and announce elections there.
Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 aimed at providing “rights to those who faced injustice” and were deprived of their rights in the Union Territory. Both the bills were passed last week by the Lok Sabha. The Bills were jointly discussed a few hours after the Supreme Court passed a judgement upholding the constitutional validity of the Executive Order abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution and scrapping statehood for Jammu and Kashmir.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on the two Jammu and Kashmir Bills, Union Minister Amit Shah said this is an important day as both these Bills will be passed and also because this will be written in golden letters in the history of Jammu and Kashmir and India.
“Today, Supreme Court upheld the intention behind Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Bill, 2019, its constitutional validity and the process.”
Shah said one of the Bills seeks to represent those who became refugees in their own country and also reserves one seat in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly for people who have been displaced from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Shah said several questions were raised even the day before yesterday. “In Lok Sabha, it was said that the Bill is pending and is being brought in haste.
