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Documents 51 through 75

Legal Documents 51-75

Report of the Franchise Committee

Report of the Franchise Committee
1933

Legal Document No 51

1. Sir Barjor Dalal, Kt., I.C.S. (Retd.)           President
2. Mr. L.W. Jardine, I.C.S                            Vice President
3. R.B. Sardar Thakur Kartar Singh Ji,         Member
4. K.B. Sheikh Abdul Qayum                        Member

With Mr. Ram Nath Sharma, Registrar High Court. As Secretary.

On the 24th March 1933, Sir Ivo Elliott, I.C.S. (Retd.) was appointed Franchise Officer and replaced Mr. Jardine as Member of the Committee.

Owing to the pressure of his ordinary work Mr. Ram Nath Sharma left the Secretaryship and Mr. Hira Nand Raina was appointed Secretary to the Committee. To both these gentlemen the Members of the Committee desire to express their thanks, and especially for their arrangements in the examination of witnesses.

Full publicity was given to the proceedings; the written statements of witnesses were read in open Committee and the witnesses were then orally examined. The Committee also permitted any persons present at the meeting to ask questions from the witness on the points on which they had given their evidence.

It is a matter of interest that on only one of the main points which we had to examine were our witnesses absolutely unanimous; all agreed in preferring direct election to any form of indirect election. Only one witness advocated manhood suffrage. For the rest there was an extreme divergence of opinion and this divergence has been mainly on a communal basis.

We have therefore been faced with the same exaggeration of communal claims and fears which made the Constitutional Reforms Conference abortive and prevented any of its Members from putting their signatures to Mr. Glancy's Report. We think then that it would be helpful if we begin by examining what appears to us to be the chief cause of this exaggeration, namely the excessive attention which has been given to the idea. We certainly cannot call it the principle - of enfranchising 10 per cent of the total population. This idea rests on mix-apprehension and indeed on mix-statement.

In the order dated 31st May 1932, His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur in Council accepted the recommendation of the President of the Kashmir Constitutional Reforms Committee, Mr. Glancy, and appointed a Franchise Committee. Observing from Mr. Glancy's Report that the Reforms Conference had only been able to put forward tentative suggestions regarding the important question of the franchise and of the composition of the Assembly, His Highness in Council instructed the Franchise Committee to examine the different kinds of qualifications and disqualifications for the franchise and for elected membership of the Assembly and to submit recommendations on matters referred to in that Report and on - any other matters which as a result of the Committee's enquiries appeared to be germane to the subject. The Committee was authorised to collect statistics, to receive representations and to examine witnesses.
The Committee was composed of the following Members:
The Committee first met on the 8th of June 1932, to discuss procedure. We paid special attention to the need for securing the widest possible attention of the public to the points which we had been instructed to examine. A proceedings of the Committee were published in the Gazettee and in October 1932, the Committee issued a Questionnaire as a further help to witnesses in covering the whole ground of Enquiry. The 3rd October 1932 was the earliest date by which we could expect witnesses to prepare written statements and to give oral evidence, and we hoped to hear the Srinagar witnesses in this month. Very few of them, however, were able to attend at the date fixed and the hearing of evidence in Kashmir had to be postponed to the 1933 season, though the Committee took the opportunity of examining some witnesses at Muzaffarabad and Baramulla. The Committee heard evidence in Jammu in April 1933 and in Srinagar in May 1933.
The list of the witnesses examined and of some individuals who were only to submit written statements is given in Appendix 1. The list comprises representatives of every community in Jammu and Kashmir and we are satisfied that we have been made acquainted with the opinions of most parties and classes in the State. We should have welcomed some further assistance at Srinagar from the "Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference." We were informed by the President of the Conference on 16th May 1933 that in fact the Conference did not propose to add anything to the statements made in the Memorial of 19th October 1931. That Memorial was earlier in date than the proceedings of the Constitutional Reforms Conference, which it was our special duty to supplement by more detailed enquiries, and as the particular statements in it were no more than two very short paragraphs expressed in the most general terms, the President in his letter of the 17th May 1933 invited the Conference to submit evidence on the points of detail in the manner which had been indicated by our Questionnaire and which had been followed by our other witnesses whether speaking in a personal or representative capacity. We were promised that a member of the working committee of the Conference would send in a written statement and give evidence, but this was not done.
Our Questionnaire, which in its arrangement closely followed the points in Mr. Glancy's Report on the Constitutional Reforms Conference, has probably been more helpful to our witnesses than it has been to us. It enabled them or the associations which they represented to say yes or no to a number of isolated propositions. But we have been disappointed at the failure in too many cases to give reason for the answer or even to ensure that the answer to one question was consistent with the answer to another. This failure was due in part no doubt to the divergent nature of the questions which we had asked in our Questionnaire and in particular the function of constituencies; but we must regret that so few witness saw the need for basing their answers on some general and consistent scheme which would embrace all interests. It was not enough at this stage to put forward the maximum claims of a community, to express ignorance of or indifference to the claims of any other community and to make no attempt to reconcile these different claims in one coherent scheme. Yet this has been a general feature of the evidence.
Mr. Glancy began that part of his report with which we are chiefly concerned by saying; "it is generally agreed that the number of voters on the electoral roll should amount approximately to ten per cent of the total population a ratio which has frequently been adopted as the working rule in British India." This is not correct; it is not a working rule. The reports of the Statutory Commission and of the Indian Franchise Committee show that the existing system in British India has enfranchised a percentage which varies from 1.1 in Bihar to 3.9 in Bombay. The British Indian Provinces have been accustomed for many years to election either for the local self-governing bodies or for the Councils, and it is because there has been this experience with the smaller experience, an advance towards adult franchise. It was for conditions which were still in the future that the Statutory Commission suggested 10 percent as a possible figure which would educate a wider electorate, that the Provincial Governments with some hesitation prepared to arrange for number of electors, and that tile Indian Franchise Committee developed their further proposals.

The facts about the constituencies can be stated very shortly. There are the two cities. Jammu and Srinagar, which have special importance as in them are concentrated wealth, trade, education and the learned professions. There are ten Wazarats, Jammu, Udhampur, Reasi, Kathua, Mirpur, Kashmir North, Kashmir South, Muzafferabad, Ladakh and Gilgit. We have been informed in the Prime Minister's letter that the Jagirs should be included in the constitutional scheme. Chenani is small but has entirely separate interests which must be represented. This Jagir and Poonch bring the number of rural constituencies to twelve. There can be no question of including the Frontier Ilaqas outside Ladakh and Gilgit.

On these facts, and with historical reasoning behind us, we might with advantage consider a first hypothesis of what would be a justifiable constitution. It would be possible to recommend that His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur's first Legislative Assembly, for the exercise of powers such as Mr. Glancy has foreshadowed, might well consist of thirty two members. Sixteen of these would be summoned by name by His Highness from those of his subjects who were most eminently fitted to be State Councillors; sixteen would be elected representatives, one from each of the rural constituencies, and two from each the cities; in this point we should be giving weightage, to the interests of the cities, but weightage to the factors of wealth and learning has always preceded weightage for mere numbers in the stages before it becomes possible to be constituted to form a Sound nucleus for further development, when the political progress of the State made it possible to give greater responsibilities to the Legislature; the elected representation of the cities and districts could be increased so as to form a large Assembly; and the State Councillors would from the nucleus of a second Chamber or Council such as we consider might be required in the interest of the State as a whole in a more advanced type of constitution.

Such an Assembly would also have the merit of being comparable to that which has been established in the State of Bhopal. a State which resembles this State in certain essential factors. Bhopal has an Assembly of 74 members, only eight of whom are elected, and of these two members represent the city and two represent trade. Our Assembly of 39 members, 16 of whom would be elected, would be in advance of the Bhopal constitution and while giving weightage, as in Bhopal, to the urban interests, would give far greater representation to the agricultural population.

The diversity of the population can best be stated in the following table which shows to the nearest thousand of the adult males over 20 years of age in each of our proposed constituencies and in each of the principal communities. There is such general agreement that women cannot be enfranchised to any large extent that we require only the figures adult males. The figures for districts are exclusive of the cities:

Constituency	Muslims	Hindus	Sikhs	Buddhists
Jammu	37	56	2
Udhampur	31	46
Chenani	1	3
Reasi	39	24
Kathua	11	35
Mirpur	71	15	2
Kashmir North	135	4
Kashmir South	156	7	1
Muzaffarabad	56	1	3
Poonch	82	6	3
Ladakh	41			12
Gilgit	8	1
Jammu City	5	9
Srinagar City	39	10

There is no virtue whatever in the ratio of 10 per cent it is an arbitrary figure which has been suggested as a rough measure of the advance which can be made practically towards adult suffrage in a country where years of experience of a restricted franchise have made some advance possible. It would be entirely against constitutional history to lay so much stress on the total numbers of men, women and children, or in other words to think in terms of adult suffrage, in a country which has never yet had any wide-spread electoral system. In the first stages of constitutional progress the chief element is not the individual men, it is the constituency. When the Ruler has desired to associate his Government, he has had two ways of securing a competent and representative body of advisers. A part from his own officials there are prominent and capable men whose advice he would obviously require for legislation, and whom he can summon by name to his Council, and these have often been the nucleus of a second Chamber. But as the Kingdom advances there is more need for the specific representation of local interests, and more important men of local areas are required to elect their members to supplement the nominees. What these local are as should be, has never been determined by some exact measurement of men and women through a census of even by the allotment of an exact number of enfranchised voters to each seat; the local areas have determined themselves by their history and form of administration. Historically it has been the towns which usually have been the first to secure elected representation, as the concentration of trade in them has given them importance and they have had some special administration which has made it less reasonable that there interests should be represented only by the big land holders who have been called by the Ruler to his Council. Elected representation of the country apart from the town, belongs to a later stage, and when it has been granted, the territorial units have differed very largely in size in every country where representative Govt. has been established, and these differences still continue. It is only at a very advance stage of progress, namely when adult suffrage is becoming possible, that there has come the idea of making the constituencies more equal in size or number of the total population, and even now as the example of many democratic countries shows, equality cannot be reached, and the constituency remains more important than the census.
It is from these considerations of normal constitutional growth that we hold that it has been a misapprehension to lay so such stress on the idea of enfranchising 10 per cent of the total population, apart from the actual misstatement of describing this ratio as a working rule. We propose to base our recommendations on the constituencies; and for this reason we deal first with the composition of the Assembly before we proceed to discuss the franchise; but our scheme will show that we have also given appropriate weight to the numerical facts, though we have been careful not to exaggerate their importance.
We are faced, however, by other local facts in Jammu and Kashmir, in particular the great diversity of the population. which compel us to go beyond our first hypothesis' though we retain its general principle. To m et these facts we must propose a greater number of representative members. In thus enlarging the Assembly on the lines which we state below we are aware that we are recommending a greater advance over constitutions such as that of Bhopal, but we do not think that this will be unwise.
In the rural districts the result) of an election on any conceivable system Of franchise, if only one member was to be elected, would be the election of a Muslim member in five Wazarats and in Poonch, and of a Hindu in Kathua and Chenani. In Jammu, Udhampur and Reasi the result would be uncertain and this uncertainty could not fail to be reflected in communal competition which would be dangerous to the peace. We, therefore, recommend that each of these three constituencies should have two elected members, one for the Muslim electorate and one for the Hindu.

But if Jammu, Udhampur and Reasi return two members each, it would be to great an anomaly to leave Mirpur, Northern and Southern Kashmir and Poonch each with only a single member, and although we do not attach the first importance to this factor of population, it would be an almost equally great anomaly if in these four districts the second member were to be elected by the minority communities which are negligible in numbers compared with the minorities in Jammu, Udhampur and Reasi. The second member in these four districts must clearly be a Muslim.

If however the Assembly is to embrace all local interests we must provide for the representation of the smaller minorities also, if they are to be divided from the major community and formed into separate electorates, as Mr. Glancy and the great majority of our witness, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh, are recommended. The 15,000 Hindus of Mirpur and the 11,000 Muslims of Kathua might each elect a member without straining over much the idea of weightage. The groups of Hindus in the three Kashmir districts are very much smaller, but they are to a very large extent homogeneous, and they have a high degree of literacy. For the small minority in Poonci1 the best course will be for the Ilaqadar to nominate a representative of the Hindus. In Chenani the numbers are so small that although there must be special representation, a system of election is not really justified, still less a system of separate electorates, and we feel that in this case also it will be wiser to ask the Ilaqadar to nominate his representative. But while we thus provide for the minorities by election or nomination according to their size, we must also in fairness to the majority community, be mindful of our principle of giving some weight, though in a less degree to the numbers of adult male population. We follow the same course of giving an extra elected member for a large group and an extra nominated member for a smaller group and we propose that where any community has more than 40,000 adult men to each elected member, there should be an additional elected member for each 40,000 and an addition d nominated member for part of 40,000 greater than 5000. This scale would give a third elected member both to Kashmir North and Kashmir South, both from Muslim electorate and extra Muslim nominated member to each of the three Kashmir Districts, and an extra Hindu nominated member to Jammu and Udampur. Where a Wazarat or Ilaqa is allotted two or more members under this scheme, and the population is practically homogeneous, we think that the representation would be more effective if it were divided by Tehsils, roughly in accordance with the population figures, into single member constituencies. This would also make the conduct of the election much easier by decreasing. The number of candidates for any one constituency. We recommend that these constituencies should be as follows:

District	Constituency	Adult Muslims
Mirpur	Bhimbar	25
Poonch	Mirpur Kotli	46
	Haveli-Mendhar	42
	Bagh-Sudhnuti	39
	Handwara (Uttarma-chipura)	62
Kashmir North	Baramulla	34
	Badgam (Sri PartapSinghpura)	49
	Tehsil Khas Pulwama	69
	Anantnag	33
Kashmir South	Kulgam	54

Although there is inevitably some inequality in the population of the different units we believe that this scheme would give excellent representation to local interests, and we are opposed to any readjustment of boundaries in order to equalize population, as the limit of the Tehsils are well known to everyone. The provision of three extra Muslim seats for the three districts of Kashmir Province will enable His Highness to nominate representatives of any Muslim elements for which the electoral system does not provide.

We have recommended that each of these Wazarats should have an extra Hindu member nominated; Jammu has 16,000 and Udhampur 6,000 adult males in excess of 40,000 but these communities would not come on to our scale for extra members, were it not for the approximately 9,000 Megh adults in Jammu and 7,000 in Udhampur and also members of other castes which are elsewhere called the depressed classes. It is, therefore, as a measure of obvious fairness that we suggest that in these two constituencies the extra Hindu members to be nominated should be chosen from the Megh community. We make no other recommendation for the representation of the depressed classes; such a step would not be suitable in this first stage of constitutional representation, and the case for making it is not strong if the action which we recommend on behalf of the Meghs is taken, as they are by far the most important of the communities of this type.

We cannot treat these three groups as one body for the purpose of electing a member, like the Kashmiri Hindus whose groups in the three districts are living in the same condition in far easier contact one with the other. Our general method of handling this question of the smaller minority groups would justify us in proposing that three members should be nominated to represent the Sikh groups, but in that case the Sikhs unlike the other communities, would have no elected member. This would on general grounds be an unsatisfactory conclusion, and specially so because the Sikhs have a high percentage of literacy; out of the 12,365 adult males 4,064 are literate. This factor entitles us to recommend that out of the three Sikh groups, two (1) Mirpur-Poonch and (2) West Kashmir should each elect one member. This third constituency of Eastern Kashmir and Jammu minus Mirpur will be too large a constituency in wl1icll to arrange an election so we recommend a nominated Sikh member for that constituency.

In order to simplify the process of election, Srinagar should be divided into single-member constituencies, the basis of the division being, according to our general principle, the existing municipal wards. For the Muslim seats wards Nos. 1 and 3 in the south can be combined as one constituency No. 1 carrying a comparatively light population. Similarly the outlying wards in the north, Nos. 6 and 8 should provide one seat. The qualified voters in ward No. 2 will be so predominantly Hindu that for the Muslim electorate this ward can be combined with No. 4. The densely populated wards 5 and 7 should each return a Muslim member. Of the two Hindu members one should be elected by wards 1, 2 & 3, the other by the remaining five municipal wards.

We have heard much evidence on behalf of the domiciled Hindus of Srinagar, a community which is of real importance to the State, though its numbers are small and it has few members who are State-subjects. It is obvious that these Hindus could not secure an elected seat, as they are completely outnumbered in the possible Hindu electorate, and they would not de qualified for inclusion in the State Councillors. We, therefore, propose that there should be one nominated seat in Srinagar for their representation.

We propose that the State Councillors should remain members for more than one term of the Assembly, and that a Councillor nominated to fill a vacancy should hold his seat for the next half term. This would secure some continuity in the advice which the Assembly could tender. It has a parallel in the British Municipal system. As we recommend later a three years term for the Assembly the State Councillors should be appointed for a term of 41 years.

In the evidence given to us at Jammu we have heard with great interest and sympathy the claims of the Megh Community, and our conclusion is that the Meghs have real grounds for being specially considered, without however, being in any way separated from the mass of the Hindus. A comparison of the figures in the last two census shows that there must hl 1931 have been some concealment of membership of this caste and their real numbers; this is one of the most important caste groups in the State. We also observe that the great majority of the Meghs are localized in Jammu and Udhampur Wazarats.
We have hitherto referred to representation of Ladakh and Gilgit in the same terms as in the case of the other districts, but we feel that it will be impossible to hold elections in these frontier districts until much greater experience of the conduct of elections has been acquired. Those of our witnesses who have stated that elections could be held now in Ladakh and Gilgit have clearly been speaking without any knowledge of the actual process of election and have made light of administrative difficulties which they have not attempted to examine. These difficulties will be considerable in other parts of the State, but in Ladakh and Gilgit the rigours of the climate, the immense area the wide dispersion of inhabited sites and the extreme difficulty of communications between them make it a present impossible for a limited and entirely inexperienced staff to conduct an election. We must, therefore, recommend that at least until experience of election has been gained the members for Ladakh and Gilgit should be nominated and not elected. Our scale would give one Muslim and one Buddhist member to Ladakh and one Muslim member to Gilgit; but in view of the scattered and divers population of Ladakh we recommend that two Muslim and two Buddhist members should be nominated for that Wazarat. One of the Muslim members should represent Skardu Tebsil and the other Kargil.
We have provided members by nomination for the Buddhist and, as part of the Hindu representation, for the Megh community. A community which requires special consideration is that of the Sikhs. and we have given a careful hearing to the claims put forward their behalf, claims which have some justification from the fact that the numbers of the Sighs, 12,365 adult males, are certainly not commensurate with their wealth, activities and general place in the State. The Sikhs are far less localized than are either the Buddhists or the Czechs, and it is difficult to fit their groups into our scheme of constituencies; yet the Sikh witnesses have laid stress on the fact that the two members suggested by Mr. Glancy could not properly represent local groups which live in such diverse conditions, and this has led them to make extravagant claims which admitted, have ignored every other consideration except the communal. After examining this point of the local distribution of the Sikhs, we think that it would not be unfair to assign them to three groups. firstly those of Mirpur and Poonch (4,800 adult males) whose circumstances are very similar; secondly those of Muzaffarabad and of the Baramulla and Uttarmachipura Tehsil (3,800 adults); and thirdly the Sikhs of the rest of the State (3,700 adults) who no where from any large local group, but have some general importance in business and industry.
The steps which we have considered in the preceding paragraphs have raised the proposed rural representation to 24 elected and 12 nominated members. In the hypothetical constitution which we first examined we had 12 rural to 4 urban members and the latter number also must now be raised, and for the same reasons. We propose, therefore, that there should be 10 urban elected members, 7 from Srinagar and 3 from Jammu, of whom the Muslim electorate should elect 1 member in Jammu and 5 in Srinagar and the Hindu electorate 2 in each city.
Our full scheme would thus provide 34 elected and 13 nominated members to represent the cities and districts. To these we should add the 15 State Councillors, to whom we referred in pare 7 and whose inclusion we regard as an essential element in the constitution. The local facts which have led us to raise the number of representative members from 15 to 47 do not apply to the nomination of the most eminent men in the State, and we retain the original number sixteen. It is not for us to restrict His Highness' freedom of choice in summoning his Councillors by name, but we would respectfully urge, firstly that they should be chosen from those whose actual and historical position in the State is so eminent that they would naturally be members of a second Chamber, if such were constitute], secondly that they should not be officials, and thirdly that in order preserve the balance of the communities, no fewer than five should be Muslims. It would also be advantageous if one State Councillor were a Sikh who could help to harmonize the more purely local views of the representative Sikh members. Fourthly we recommend that in view of their historical position in the State, four of the State Councillors should be Rajputs and four should be Illaqadars or Jagirdars.
We recommend that the Assembly should be completed by the addition of twelve official members of whom six would be Ministers holding their seats ex-officio. Their presence is unquestionably necessary in order to state to the Assembly the views of the government. It is similarly desirable to have in the Assembly Heads of Departments who have expert knowledge; the remaining six official seats would enable His Highness to make such nomination as might be required for presenting this expert official knowledge and we recommend that one of these six official seats should be for an official of Poonch, to be nominated by the Illaqadar with the approval of His Highness.
We can now conveniently tabulate the proposed composition of the Assembly.

Constituencies	Muslim		Hindu		Buddhist		Sikh
	Elected	Nom	Elected	Nom	Elected	Nom	Elected	Nom
Jammu City	1		2
Jammu Wazarat	1		1	1
Udhampur	1		1	1
Chenani				1
Reasi	1		1
Kathua	1		1
Mirpur, Hindu			1
Mirpur, Kotli	1
Bhimbar	1
Poonch, Hindu				1
Haveli Mendhar	1
Bagh Sudhunti	1
Mirpur Poonch Sikh								1
Srinagar City	5		2	1
Tehsil Khas Pulwama	1
Anantang	1
Kulgam	1
Kashmir South Muslim		1
Badgam	1
Handwara	1
Baramulla	1
Kashmir North Muslim		1
Muzaffarabad	1	1
Kashmir Hindu		1
West Kashmir Sikh							1
Ladakh		2			2
Gilgit		1
Total	21	6	10	5	2	2	2

We may and add here a recommendation that in no case should a candidate who has been defeated in an election be nominated to a seat in the same term of the Assembly. This is a convention in the practice of British India, for obvious reasons.

We would desire that in accordance with the practice in British India in earlier days when the Councils were formed, the Prime Minister should be the President of the Assembly. But we recognize that to act throughout a session both as President, responsible for the procedure of Assembly, and as Leader of the House, responsible in addition to the Prime Minister's duties. We, therefore, recommend that His Highness should appoint another Minister, preferably the Judicial Minister, to preside over the Assembly. and be in permanent charge of the Assembly office. It may be ordered that in the unavoidable absence of the Minister particularly appointed as President, any other Minister may act as President. It is obvious that these duties will demand an officer with full experience in the transaction of official business, and that the election of an untrained non-official cannot yet be contemplated.

In the experimental stage we think that there should be a dissolution in the ordinary course after three years.

The terms of the nominated members, other than of the Ministers and State Councillors, should be the same as that of the elected members.

Total members with 16 State Councillors and 12 officials ...75
33 elected members (21 muslims, 10 Hindus, 2 Sikhs)

30 nominated members

Minimum number of Muslim members...32 excluding the 12 officials.

Maximum number of Hindu members. . .25
We do not recommend that there should be special representation either of the Rajputs or of the land-holders or of traders or of the depressed classes or of labour. The first two groups would have their representatives among the State Councillors; so too might trade, and we have considered the trading interests when giving weightage to the cities; and w e have already stated our views and made provision for the depressed classes. Neither these nor the labourers would normally be represented in the first stage of constitutional development. We have no evidence of any serious organisation of labour as a separate class. We consider, however, that the provision of extra nominated seats in the Kashmir Muslim constituencies would give His Highness an opportunity of selecting one or two members who would be more directly interested in the welfare of the labouring classes, in the same way as the Jammu and Udhampur Hindu nominated seats can be used for the representation of the lower orders of the Hindus.
We conclude this portion of the Report with certain recommendations about the assembly, though we do not consider it to be our province to discuss its powers; we have made our proposals as to its composition on the assumption that its powers will be on general lines similar to those recommended by Mr. Glancy.
There are five general conditions which must govern any system of Franchise. Two are of minor practical importance and we only follow ordinary usage in saying that:

Persons of unsound mind cannot vote,
Persons may be disfranchised for corrupt practices at an election.

The other three general conditions are those of:

nationality,
sex, and
age.

There should be no question that every elector must be a State-subject. this is the essential bond of unity in an electorate which is so separated by natural conditions and by religion, and we might add that this is one point on which the majority of our witnesses are agreed. We do not propose that for the purpose of enfranchisement the existing law defining a State-subject should be changed. Mr. Glancy's remarks on this point exaggerate the issue and we do not understand his reference to "hereditary - State-subject" or to "domicile in the State for a thousand years." The present definition, if applied to the franchise, would admit persons who have acquired immovable property in the State and have ten years' continuous residence. It is our general principle that the new constitution must be evolutionary; it should rest on existing conditions in the State and not on a priori ideas or on blind imitation of the practice in other countries. If for general reasons, and after hearing the advice of the new assembly, His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur decides to alter the law that would automatically affect the franchise; but the franchise now must be based on the present definition, and only State-subject of the three classes as now defined should be qualified to vote or to be elected as members.

The same principle leads us to agree with Mr. Glancy that women in general should not be enfranchised. We have a representation from the local branch of the All-India Women's Conference, and some of our Hindu witnesses have favoured women's suffrage. But it is obvious that the majority of the population would not welcome this and we must add the practical consideration that the inclusion of women voters in any large number would increase the administrative difficulties of the first election. At the beginning the most that we can do is to admit women who have a sufficient educational qualification..

As regards age we follow the general practice that a voter must be 21 years old when the electoral roll is published. We note that this means a small reduction in the figures of adult males, which we have quoted from the census.

Just as many of the opinions expressed to us about the Assembly have been of no help because witnesses have assigned seats to the different communities by percentages, without considering what the constituencies actually should be, so the attempt to create an electorate on a fixed percentage of the population as well as on personal qualification has led our witnesses into logical and practical difficulties; one witness, regardless of finance, has proposed that there should be a special electoral census, in order that the Government may ascertain the exact figures of land revenue payment which would qualify precisely 10 per cent of the people, another witness takes the line 10 per cent, should be enfranchised in each district, and that the personal qualifications should be varied accordingly from district to district. We must repeat that 10 percent was an arbitrary figure taken by the statutory Commission as a rough guide in conditions which do not as yet apply to Jammu and Kashmir. The simple fact is that no uniform personal qualifications can give same numerical result all over the country. We must leave these arbitrary figures and base our scheme of qualification on reasoned grounds.

A second group includes those whose prominence or responsibility are shown by the fact that they received titles in the State or in British India, or are receiving pensions of not less than Rs. 10 a month, or are retired or pensioned officers or N.C.Os of the regular military forces. To these we may add, without straining our principle the retired soldiers, who certainly hold a distinguished place among their fellows.

Our third group would include those whose education or subsequent attainments have clearly fitted them for a part in a modern constitutional system. We would enfranchise as such the Lawyers, Doctors, Hakims, Vaids and Schoolmasters, who are actually practicing in the State. To these we would add those who have at least passed through the Middle school or an equivalent educational test, as well as those who have had higher education.

Lastly there must be the principal mass of electors, who can voice the feelings of the ordinary citizen, but who must be expected to do with some degree of responsibility. For this purpose property is the only possible test, in this State as elsewhere, but we think it necessary to make the property test a low one, in order that the Government may be quite sure that at an election the ordinary people are really represented. We agree with Mr. Glancy in putting the basic figure for the payment of land revenue as low as Rs. 20, a lower figure than is in force in the Punjab, but, in order to secure an adequate urban electorate we prefer Rs. 600 as the value of immovable property other than land which should qualify a person to give a vote, instead of Mr. Glancy's figure of Rs. 1,000. These qualifications must be supplemented by a similar qualification for occupancy tenants, and by a slightly higher qualification for the holders of Ilaqas, Jagirs, Guzaras and revenue-free land. We add a grazing-fee qualification in order to enfranchise persons of settled habitation whose property is in livestock. We adopt in all these cases the Punjab rule which enables co-sharers to vote if the value of their share would, if partitioned, come within the prescribed limits. We have not delayed the submission of this report in order to complete or test the figures which we have been collecting of the number of voters which these property qualification would produce: but we are satisfied that the number will not be so great as to make the conduct of the elections too difficult for a limited official staff, whereas lower rates would certainly lead to practical difficulties in some parts of the State. Our scheme would enfranchise more than 10Oo of the adult male population, and would give to the small revenue payers and the small house holders a great and often a decisive influence on the election. As there can be no doubt that these men are not distinguishable in feeling from the mass of the people, our object would be attained; our electorate would comprise all State-subjects who had raised themselves to a responsible position, and all who were educate, and also a large number of voters who would both be completely in touch with the masses and yet have the responsibility induced by the possession of their small property.

Only one witness has urged adult male suffrage, and it is not necessary for us to consider this question either as an immediate issue or as the goal for the future. Adult male suffrage would require at least 1,300 officials of standing to act as presiding officers at the election, besides more than 3,000 clerks. Besides being premature now, it is administratively impossible.
We may begin by admitting to the franchise all those whose position is already representative, and who therefore may justly represent their fellows at an election. These are the Zaildars, Safed-Poshes and Lumberdars, who in districts where there are many villages, are very numerous. There are also the religious representatives, Imams, Mufties and Qazis, the Adhishthatas of temples, the Bhais and Granthis of Gurdwaras and ordained Ministers of the Christian Church.
We have, in conclusion, to express our views as to the qualification for candidates for election. The object of the Election system being to secure the real representation of local opinion, no one should be entitled to be a candidate for a constituency in which he is not resident and registered as an elector but for this purpose registration in any part of a city should qualify an elector The object of convening the Assembly being to -obtain responsible assistance in legislation, we are justified in raising the age of candidates to 25, agreeing in this with Mr. Glancy and many of our witnesses. Lastly we recommend, in agreement with Mr. Glancy, that every candidate must be able to read and write the Urdu language, which will be the Language in which the Assembly will conduct its business.
As a summary of this part of our recommendations we append a draft of the relevant electoral rules, preparing, on established models, rules to govern the detailed procedure of elections, which it is not necessary for us to discuss in the Report.

DRAFT ELECTORAL RULES

Every person shall be entitled to be registered as an elector on the electoral roll of a constituency who is not subject to any of the following disqualifications, namely:

is not a State-subject of any class, as defined in notification I - L/1984, dated Jammu, 18th April 1927; or
has not attained the age of 21 years on the first day of the month on which the roll is published; or
has been adjudged by a competent court to be of unsound mind; or
if female, has not obtained the Middle school certificate or any other certificate mentioned in rule 4(7) below or a certificate of having passed some higher examination; and who has the qualifications prescribed for an elector of that constituency in rules 2,3 and 4.

A person shall be qualified as an elector,

in a Muslim constituency, who a Muslim,
in a Sikh constituency, who is a Sikh, and
in any other constituency, who is neither a Muslim nor a Sikh.

Provided that no person shall be entitled to have his name entered on the roll of more than one constituency but he can choose the constituency on whose roll his name may be entered.

A person shall be qualified as an elector of that constituency alone in which he or she ordinarily resides or carries on business.
A person shall be qualified as an elector who has any one of the following qualifications:

is a Zaildar, or Safed-Posh, or Lumberdar, or
is an Imam of a mosque, or Mufti or Qazi, or an Adhisthata of a temple, or a Bhai or Granthi of a Gurdwara, or an ordained Minister of the Christian Church, who has been acting as such for a period of not less than six months prior to the preparation of the electoral rolls, or
is a recognized title-holder, or
is a retired or pensioned officer, non-commissioned officer or soldier of His Highness regular forces, pro that he has not been discharged there from with vided ignominy, or
is a pensioner who receives a pension of not less than Rs. 10 a month from treasury in this State or any other, or
is a Doctor, or Hakim or Vaid, or Lawyer, or Schoolmaster actually practising his profession within the State, or tenancy is divisible by 20 or the value of immovable property is divisible by 600. The co-sharer shall appoint by name the persons so entitled to vote as electors.

For the purpose of these rules a person shall be deemed to have owned property or to have paid fees for any period during which the property was owned or the fees paid by any person through whom he derives lisle by inheritance.
(1) An electoral roll shall be prepared for every constituency on which shall be entered the names of all persons appearing to be entitled to be registered as electors for that constituency. It shall be published in the constituency together with a notice specifying the manner in which and the time within which any person whose name is not entered in the roll and who claims to have it inserted therein, or any person whose name is on the roil and who objects to the inclusion of his own name or of the name of any other person on the roll, may prefer a claim or objection to the Revising Authority.(2) The orders made by the Revising Authority shall be final. and the electoral roll shall be amended in accordance therewith and shall, as so amended, be republished in such manner as the Government may prescribe. No person shall vote at an election if on the date on which the poll is taken he is undergoing a sentence of imprisonment or if he has been bound over to be of good behavior and the period of the bond has not yet expired.

has obtained the Middle school certificate, or a certificate of having passed the Budhiman, Rattan, Adhib, Munshi, Moulvi, or Prajna examination or a certificate of having passed some higher examination, or
is the owner of land assessed to land revenue of not less than Rs. 20 per annum, or
is an Ilaqadar, or
(a) is a Jagirdar, Muafidar, or Guzarkhar holding an assignment of not less than Rs. 20 per annum, or
is a tenant with right of occupancy paying rent of not less than Rs. 20 per annum, or
is the owner of immovable property, other than land. within the State, of the value of not less than Rs. 600, or
pays grazing-fees to the Government of not less than Rs. 20 per annum and is not a Bakarwal.

Where two or more persons are co-sharers in land assessed to land revenue, or in an assignment of land-revenue, or in other immovable property, or in a tenancy, every person shall be qualified as an elector who would be so qualified it his share in such land, property, assignment or tenancy were held separately. The share of any such person who is under 21 years of age shall be deemed to be the share of his father, or if his father is dead his eldest brother provided that his father or eldest brother as the case may be. is a co-sharer with him in the property.
If on division, none of the persons would be entitled to vote, any one or two or such number of them shall be entitled to vote as the number of times the total revenue or assignment of land-revenue or rent of
A person shall be eligible for election as a member of the Assembly for a constituency if he is;

over 25 years of age, and
can read and write the Urdu language, and
is registered as an elector for that constituency, or if the constituency is an urban constituency is registered as an elector in the city of which the constituency forms a part, and
has ordinarily resided or carried on business in the constituency or city for the twelve months proceeding the first day of the month on which the roll is published.

Note:- For the purpose of this rule, a person may be presumed to reside in a constituency if he owns a family dwelling house or a share in family-dwelling house in the constituency, and that house has not during the twelve months been let on rent either in whole or in part.

A person against whom a conviction by a criminal court for an offense punishable with a sentence of imprisonment for a period of more than six months is subsiding shall, unless the offence of which he was convicted has been pardoned, not be eligible for election for five years from the date of the expiration of the sentence.
A person shall not be eligible for election if he is an undischarged insolvent, or being a discharged insolvement has not obtained from the court a certificate that his insolvency was caused by misfortune without any misconduct on his part.
The name of any person who has been found guilty of a corrupt practice, under any rules in force regarding elections, shall be removed from the electoral roll, and shall not be registered on an electoral roll for a period of five years from the date of the finding, and such person shall not be eligible for election to the Assembly for such period.

(Sd) Barjor Dalal President
(,,) Kartar Singh Member
(,,) Abdul Qayoom Member
(,,) Ivo Elliott Member

Jammu:
30th December, 1933

Constitution Act

Legal Document No 52

Whereas it is my declared intention to provide for the association of my subjects in the matter of legislation and administration of the State, I hereby promulgate the following Regulations:

"His Highness" means His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur of Jammu and Kashmir.

"State" means the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

"Council" means the Council of Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir hereinafter referred to.

"Assembly" means the Legislative Assembly of the State constituted under this Regulation.

"Official" and "Non-Official" means respectively a person who is or who is not in the Civil or Military Service of the State provided that rules under this Regulation may provide for the holders of such offices or any of them as may be specified in the rules not being treated for purposes of this Regulation as officials.

This Regulation may be styled the Jammu and Kashmir Regulation No. 1 of 1991 and it shall come into force on 7th Baisakh 1991.
In this Regulation unless there is something repugnant in the subject or context:
All powers, legislative, executive and judicial in relation to the State and its Government are hereby declared to be and to have been always inherent in and possessed and retained by His Highness the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir and nothing contained in this Regulation shall affect or be deemed to have affected the right and prerogative of His Highness to make and pass Regulations, Proclamations and Ordinances by virtue of his inherent authority.
The Government of the State shall be conducted in the name of His Highness and all powers and authority under this Regulation shall be exercised by and in the name of His Highness.
The Council of Ministers of the State shall comprise the Prime Minister for the time being and such other Ministers of the State as His Highness may appoint. The Prime Minister, who shall be the President of the Council and the other Ministers shall hold office during His Highness' pleasure.
Subject always to the provisions of Section 3 and the exercise in his discretion of the powers and authority inherent as aforesaid in His Highness and subject also to such rules of business and allocation of portfolios and such other directions as to consolations with or reports and confirmation by His Highness on specified matters His Highness may give from time to time by general or special orders in that behalf, the superintendence, direction and control of the Civil Administration and Government of the State shall be vested in the Council.
The following subjects shall be deemed to be reserved from this Regulation and it shall not be lawful for the Council or the Assembly to consider, deal with or enact any measure relating to or affecting:

His Highness or any Member of the Royal Family or the management of their Household:
relations, treaties, conventions or agreements between the State and His Majesty the King Emperor of India or the Government of India or with Foreign powers or the Government of any State in India now subsisting or in force or hereafter to be established or made;
matters concerning the Gilgit and Ladakh Frontiers;
rights specifically granted to Ilaqadars or Jagirdars by their Sanads;
the organization, discipline and control of the State Army;
the State Departments now under the charge of the Minister-in-Waiting on His Highness and specified in the Schedule hereto (Schedule 1)
the Dharmarth Department; and
the provisions of this Regulation and the Rules thereunder and their repeal or modification.

The Council, with the previous consent of His Highness and subject to the provisions of Section 6, may make rules for the conduct of executive business and may, in default of any directions given by His Highness provide that the authority of the Council may be delegated to a Minister in respect of any subject or class of subjects.
All rules and orders issued prior to the enactment of this Regulation shall remain in force excepting in so far as they are amended or repealed by this Regulation.
The Legislature of the State shall consist of:

the Council; and
the Assembly; and subject to the provisions of Section 7, no legislative measure shall be deemed to have been passed unless it has been passed by the Council of the Assembly under the provisions hereinafter set out and has received the assent of His Highness.

The Council may provide by Regulation for any matter concerning the Public Department or the Public Revenue of the State including the imposition of any charge thereon or the maintenance, alteration or imposition of any tax or duty.
Notwithstanding anything contained in this Regulation the Council may in cases of emergency or where immediate legislation is required in any matter affecting the peace and good Government of the State. submit to His Highness an Ordinance and such Ordinance or being assented to by His Highness shall have the force of law for a period not exceeding six months from the date of promulgation.
Subject to the provisions herein contained the Assembly shall have power to make Regulations for all persons, for all Courts and for all places and things within the State.
The Assembly shall consist of Members nominated or elected under provisions of this Regulation and of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Electoral Regulations, issued under his Highness Command by endorsement No. P. B. 157 of 5th March 1934. The total number of non-elected Members shall be 42 and shall include the Ministers for the time being and officials nominated by virtue of their office and 16 State Councillors summoned by name by His Highness for the constituencies and communities specified in the attached schedule (Schedule II) The number of Officials nominated by virtue of their office shall not exceed 12 including the Ministers. The number of elected Members shall be 33 and they shall be elected for the constituencies and from the communities specified in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Electoral Regulations.
The Council may make rules for the following purposes:

as to the term of office of nominated Members of the Assembly and the manner of filling causal vacancies amongst them;
as to the conditions under which and the manner in which persons may be nominated as Members of the Assembly;
as to the qualifications of electors, the constitution of constituencies and the method of election for the Assembly and any matter incidental or ancillary there to;
as to the qualification for being elected or being nominated as Members of the Assembly;
as to the final decision of doubts or disputes as to the validity of an election; and
as to the manner in which such rules should be carried into effect.

The Council shall provide by rules under this Regulation for regulating the course of business and the preservation of order in the Assembly; for number of Members required to constitute a quorum and for prohibiting or regulating the asking of questions on and the discussion of any subjects specified in the rules.
The President of the Assembly shall be appointed by His Highness for such term and on such salary as he may fix and he may remove the President from office and fill casual vacancies in that office from time to time. The President's place during temporary absences shall be taken by such persons as His Highness may direct by general or special order in that behalf.
Every Assembly shall continue for three years from its first meeting provided that:

the Assembly may sooner be dissolved by His Highness;
such period may be extended by His Highness if in special circumstances he so deems fit: and
after the dissolution His Highness shall appoint a date not more than six months after the date of the dissolution for the next Session of the Assembly.

There shall be two Sessions of the Assembly in the year as far as possible in the months of October at Srinagar and in March at Jammu and His Highness may also appoint such other times and places for holding an ordinary Or special Session as he thinks fit.
His Highness may from time to time prorogue the Sessions of the Assembly.
Any Session of the Assembly may be adjourned by the person presiding.
All questions in the Assembly shall be determined by a majority of votes of the Members present other than the presiding Members who shall have and exercise a casting vote in case of an equality of vote.
The powers of the Council or the Assembly may be exercised notwithstanding any vacancy among the Ministers or the Assembly.
An official shall not be qualified to be elected as a Member of the Assembly or to be nominated for any of the seats specified in Schedule II and if an elected Member or a Member nominated for one of such seats accepts office, his seat shall become vacant.
The seat of any Member of the Assembly shall become vacant on his being sentenced for an o fence punishable with imprisonment for a term of six months or more or on his being interned or externed under the orders of a Magistrate or the Council of His Highness.
It shall not be lawful for the Assembly to make, repeal or alter any Regulation referred to in Section 12.
It shall not be lawful at any meeting of the Assembly to consider or enact any measure imposing any disability on any community as such.
It shall not be lawful, without the previous sanction of His Highness and without the consent in writing of not less than two-thirds of the Members of the Assembly from the community affected, to introduce, consider or enact any measure affecting the religious rights, usages, endowments or personal law of any community.
When any bill has been introduced or is proposed to be introduced or any amendment to bill is moved or proposed to be moved or any resolution is moved or proposed to be moved or any question is proposed to be asked, His Highness may declare that the bill or any clause of it or amendment or the resolution or question affects the safety or tranquility of the State or any part thereof and may direct that no proceedings shall be taken by the Assembly in relation to the bill or any clause of it or amendment or resolution or question and effect shall be given to such direction.
No measure shall be deemed to have been passed by the Assembly until and unless His Highness has signified has assent thereto.
Where the Assembly refuses leave to introduce or fails to pass in a form recommended by the Council any Regulation, His Highness may declare that the Regulation is essential for the good Government safety or tranquility of the State and such measure shall, on the signification of His Highness' assent become a Regulation as if it has been passed by the Assembly.
Subject and without prejudice to the provisions herein contained, His Highness may, where a measure has been passed by the Assembly, return the same for reconsideration by the Assembly.
The President shall refuse leave to move a resolution or to ask a question which, in his opinion, affects any matter reserved under the provisions of this Regulation, or which affects the religious rights, usages, endowments or personal law of any community and is not moved or asked by a Member of that community.
Standing Orders may be made and altered by the Assembly providing for the conduct of business and the procedure to be followed in the Assembly. Any Standing Order which is repugnant to the provisions of this Regulation or to any rules made thereunder shall, to the extent of that repugnancy but not otherwise, be void.
Subject to the rules and Standing Orders of the Assembly, there shall be freedom of speech in the Assembly and no person shall be liable to any proceedings in any Court of Law by reason of his speech or vote in the Assembly or by reason of anything contained in any official report of the Assembly.
The Council shall cause a copy of the detailed statement of the estimated annual Revenue and Expenditure of the State and of the Ilaqas exercising Criminal and Civil Jurisdiction to be laid on the table of the Assembly first day of the Session to be held in each year in the month of October or any of the subsequent months if a meeting be not held in October. The President shall provide for the meeting of the Assembly on not fewer than seven days for the consideration of the statement after a week from the commencement of the said Session of the Assembly. During the time so provided and subject to the -provisions hereinafter contained and to any rules or Standing Orders, any Member of the Assembly may ask a question or move a resolution regarding any appropriation of revenue or moneys proposed in the statements or regarding the form in which. the statement is laid on the table.
If such a resolution is supported by a majority of votes, the President shall, before the Budget is passed, declare what action, if any, the Council will take on the resolution.
Before any new tax or duty is imposed or the rate of any existing tax or duty is altered by any Ordinance, Regulation or rule under this Regulation, the Council shall cause a copy of such Regulation, Ordinance or rule to be supplied to each Member of the Assembly and the President shall allot a day or days for the consideration of such proposals in the Assembly and any Member may then move any resolution on the proposals or ask any question regarding them and such tax or duty shall not be imposed or altered until the Council has taken into consideration any resolution regarding it which may have been passed by a majority of votes in the Assembly.
The following matters shall not open for discussion and no resolution may be moved or question asked in respect of these at the time when the said statement is under consideration:

expenditure on matters reserved from the cognizance of the Assembly under Section 7;
expenditure which is obligatory under any law;
pensions and gratuities granted by His Highness or with his sanction or under the rules sanctioned by His Highness;
interest on loans and sinking fund charges; and
expenditure which may be classed by His Highness or the Council as political.

If any question arises whether any proposed appropriation of revenue or moneys does not relate to any matter not liable to be voted upon by the Assembly, the decision of the President shall be final.
No proposal shall be made or resolution moved for the appropriation of any revenue or moneys for any purpose excepting by and on the recommendation of the Council.
It shall not be lawful for any Member to introduce in the Assembly, without the previous sanction of the Council. any measure affecting the public revenues of the State or imposing any charge on such revenues.
Where any Ordinance has been passed under Section 12 of this Regulation, the Council shall cause a copy of it to be delivered to such Member of the Assembly.
If any dispute arises as to the interpretation or the carrying out of any of the provisions of this Regulation or the rules made thereunder, the decision of the Council, subject to the provisions of Section 3, shall be final.
Communication by His Highness to the Assembly may be made (a) in person, (b) by message sent through the Prime Minister or other Minister, or (c) by the President or other person presiding under the Provisions of Section 17.
Every person who is elected or nominated to be a Member of the Assembly shall before taking his seat make at a meeting of the Assembly, an oath of his allegiance to His Highness in the following form, namely:

I have been elected/nominated Member of this Assembly do solemnly swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Highness Raj Rajeshwer Maharajadhiraj Shri Maharaja Harisingh Ji Bahadur, Indar Mahindar Sipar-i-Saltanat-i-Inglishia, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., K.C.V.O., of Jammu and Kashmir his heirs and successors and that I will faithfully discharge the duty upon which I am about to enter.

Every person who is appointed to be Member of the Council shall before entering on his office make the oath of allegiance in the same form.

SCHEDULE I
(See Section 7 (f))

The State departments under the Minister-in-Waiting and now styled as:

Ceremonial, Toshakhana and State Garage.
Place Guards and State Stables.
Palaces.
Reception.
Shikarkhana.

Provided that His Highness may at any time re-name or re-classify and of the items now included in the departments so styled.

SCHEDULE II
(See Section 14)

Constituencies for which members shall be nominated.

No. of members	Constituency	Community
I. To be nominated by His Highness.
2	Ladakh Wazarat	Buddhist
1	Skardu Tehsil	Muslim
1	Kargil Tehsil	Muslim
1	Gilgit Wazarat	Muslim
1	North Kashmir Wazarat	Muslim
1	South Kashmir Wazarat	Muslim
1	Muzaffarabad Wazarat	Muslim
1	Jammu Wazarat	Hindu (Megh)
1	Udhampur Wazarat	Hindu (Megh)
1	Srinagar City	Hindu other than Kashmiri Pandit
1	Wazarats Jammu, Udhampur, Reasi, Kathua, Kashmir South and Sri Partap singhpura Tehsil.	Sikh.
II. To be nominated by His Highness on the recommendation of the Ilaqadar of Poonch.
1.	Ilaqa Poonch	Hindu
III. To be nominated by His Highness on the recommendation of Ilaqadar of Chenani.
1.	Ilaqa Chenani	Hindu

Jammu and Kashmir Praja Sabha Election Rules

Legal Document No 53

(Extract)

QUALIFICATIONS OF ELECTORATES

I. No person shall be entitled to be registered as an elector on the Electoral Roll of a general or special constituency who:

is not a State-subject to any class as defined in Noti-fication I-L/1984, dated Jammu the 18th April 1927; or
has not attained the age of 21 years on the first day of Baisakh of the year in which the general elections are held; or
has been adjudged by a competent court to be of unsound mind; or
if a female, has not passed the Third Middle Examination or any other examination mentioned in Rule 11 t7).

II. Every person who is not subject to any of the disqualifications mentioned in rule 1 shall be entitled to be registered as an elector in the Electoral Roll of a general or special constituency if he resides or carries on business within that constituency:

(i) In the case of a general constituency:

is a Zaildar, or Safed-Posh, or Lambardar, and is not under suspension, or
is an Imam of a Mosque or Mufti or Qazi or an Adhishthata of a temple, or a Bhai or Granthi of a Gurdwara, or an ordained Minister of the Christian Church who has been acting as such for a period of not less than six months prior to first Baisakh of the year in which the general elections are held, or
is a recognised title-holder, or
is a retired or pensioned Officer, non-commissioned Officer or soldier or His Majesty's or His Highness' regular forces provided that he has not been discharged therefrom with ignominy.

Explanations

The term "regular forces" used in clause 4 of the foregoing Rule shall include the subjects of Jammu and Kashmir State serving as commissioned officers and Indians of other ranks of the Royal Indian Army Service Corps and also the commissioned officers and Indian other ranks of the Animal and Mechanical Transport Sections of the Jammu and Kashmir Army, or
is a pensioner who receives a pension of not less than Rs. 10 a month from a Treasury in the State, or any other treasury, or
is a Doctor or Hakim or Vaid, or Lawyer, or School master actually practicing his profession within the State, or
has passed the Third Middle Examination, or passed the Budhiman, Rattan, Adib, Munshi, Moulvi, or Prajna examination, or some higher examination, or
pays a sum of not less than Rs. 20 per annum under one or more of the following heads:

land revenue on account of land owned by him;
rent on account on land held- by him as a tenant with a right of occupancy;
grazing fees payable to the Government, or is a Jagirdar, Muafidar or Guzarakhar holding an assignment of not less than Rs. 20 per annum, or

is the owner of immovable property, other than agricultural land, within the State, or of a boat or boats of the value of not less than Rs. 600, or
pays income-tax, or has throughout the twelve months preceding the date of the notification occupied as tenant in the constituency immovable property, not being land assessed to land revenue, of an annual rental value of not less than Rs. 60.

Explanations

If any land or immovable property has been in possession of a mortgage for the whole of the year before the preparation of the Electoral Roll, such mortgagee and not the real owner shall be deemed to be the owner for the purpose of sub-rules 8(a) and (10).

Provided that no person shall be qualified as an elector:

in a Muslim constituency if he is not a Muslim;
in a Sikh constituency if he is not a Sikh
in a Hindu constituency if he is either a Muslim or a Sikh.

(ii) in the case of a special constituency:

In case of the Jammu and Kashmir Tazimi Sardars constituencies, is a Tazimi Sardas.
In case of the Jammu and Kashmir Jagirdar, Muafidar or Mukarridar constituencies, is a Jagirdar, Muafidar or Mukarridar holding a Jagir, Muafi or Mukarri from the State of not less than Rs. 500 per annum.
In case of the Jammu and Kashmir Land-holders constituencies, is a holder of any land assessed to. land revenue of not less than Rs.250 per annum.
In case of the Jammu and Kashmir pensioners Constituency is a pensioner receiving Rs. 100 or more as pension.

Provided that no person shall be entitled to have his name entered on the roll of more than one special constituency of the same class but he can choose the constituency on whose roll his name may be entered.

Explanations

Where a Jagir, Mukarrari, Muafi or land is held Jointly by members of a joint family, the family shall be adopted as the unit or deciding whether any qualification exists and if it exists, the person qualified shall be, in the case of a joint Hindu: family, the Manager thereof, and in the case of any other joint family the member thereof authorised in that behalf by the family.

For the purpose of this rule, a person may be presumed to reside in a constituency if he owns. a family dwelling-house in the constituency and that house has not, during the twelve months preceding the date of the notification been let on rent.

III. 1. Where two or more persons are co-sharers in land assessed to land revenue, or in an assignment of land revenue, or in other immovable property, or in a tenancy, or in a Jagir, Mukarrari or Muafi every person shall be qualified as an elector who would be so qualified if his share in such land,. property, assignment or tenancy were held separately. The share of any such person who is under 21 years of age shall be deemed to be the share of his father, or if his father is dead, of his eldest brother, provided that his father or eldest brother, as the case may be, is a co-sharer with him in the property:

of times, the total revenue, assignment of land revenue or rent of tenancy is divisible by 20 or in the case of immovable property other than agricultural land as the number of time, the value of such property is divisible by 600;
in the case of special constituencies, the number of times the total of the amount of Jagir revenue or assignment of revenue, as the case may be is divisible by 500 in the case of constituencies of the Jammu and Kashmir Jagirdars, Muafidars and Mukarraridars or by 250 in the case of constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir land-holders. The co-sharers shall appoint by name the persons so entitled to vote as electors.

IV. For the purposes of these rules a person shall be deemed to have owned property or to have paid fees for any period during which the property was owned or the fees paid by any person trough whom he derives title by inheritance.

V. No person shall be entitled to vote at any election if on the date on which the poll is taken he is undergoing a sentence of imprisonment, or if he has been bound over to be of good behaviour and the period of the bond has not yet expired, or if he is disqualified for membership of the Praja Sabha.

QUALIFICATIONS OF CANDIDATES

VI. A person shall be eligible for election as member of the Praja Sabha for a general or special constituency if he is not subject to any of the disqualifications contained in section 28 of the Act, and

can read and write the Urdu language in any script, and is registered as an elector for that constituency, or, in, the case of a general constituency, for any other constituency in the Province, and in the case of a Muslim or Sikh constituency, he is himself a Muslim or Sikh, as the case may be, and in the case of a Hindu constituency, he is not a Muslim or Sikh.

Explanations

For the purposes of this rule a Province shall mean either the Kashmir Province or the Jammu Province (inclusive of the Jagirs or Poonch and Chenani) as the case may be.

Order to Convene the first Session of the Praja Sabha No 57

Legal Document No 54

Under Rule 4 of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Rules of Business and Procedure, we hereby appoint Wednesday the 17th October 1934 (Ist of Katik 1991) as the day, and the Rajgarh Palace, Srinagar, as the place, for holding the Ist session of the first Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir.

The time of the meeting will be notified later.

Sd/- (Hari Singh)
Maharaja.

Vernacular names for the Ministers order No. 99

Legal Document No 55

In future the bodies and persons mentioned below shall be designated as follows:

English	Vernacular
Executive Council	Amatya Mandal
Prime Minister	Pradhan Amatya
Ministers	Amatya

These names when used by persons will be placed after and not before the name of the individuals using them.

Sd/- (Hari Singh)
Maharaja.

Appointment of Ministers to Praja Sabha order No. 132

Legal Document No 56

In addition to the President of the Assembly I hereby appoint the following Ministers to be members of the State Assembly:

Colonel E.J.D. Colvin, C.I.E., Prime Minister
Major General Nawab Khusru Jung Bahadur, Minister-in-Waiting
Mr. Wajahat Hussain, I.C.S., Home Minister
Mr. V.N. Mehta, I.C.S., Revenue Minister Rao Bahadur Thakur Kartar Singh Ji, Finance Minister

Sd/- (Hari Singh)
Maharaja.

Appointment of official Members to Praja Sabha order No. 133

Legal Document No 57

In addition to the Ministers I hereby appoint the following to be official members of the Assembly until further orders:

K.B. Sheikh Abdul Qayum, B.A., L.L.B., Judge of the High Court
Captain, Kanwar Hira Singh, Political Secretary
Lala Haveli Ram, General Secretary
Rai Bahadur, Pandit Anant Ram, Director Land Records
Mr. P.D. Pande, Accountant General
Khan Sahib, Mohammed Afzal Khan, Governor of Kashmir

Sd/- (Hari Singh)
Maharaja

Inaugural Address of the Maharaja to the Praja Sabha

Legal Document No 58

We recently expressed our wish and pleasure that means be designed whereby our people may be more closely associated in our Councils; and in pursuance of our commands thus declared, those persons appointed by us to give practical shape to our wishes have submitted their recommendations which have been accepted by us.

The assemblage here present this day is the outcome of their labours to give outward form to our behests. It is the first of its kind in recent times; but, of old, the duties which you will have to perform, were duties which were always shouldered, and loyally discharged, by the "Praja" ever since the institution of monarchy came into being in this ancient land of India. To acquaint themselves with the needs of their people the kings of old have caused to be performed, and maintained, bodies from village Panchayats upto assemblies of this nature, composed of the representatives of the various interests in their kingdoms, our own records bear witness to this.

For our part we declare that Divine Provenance having laid upon us the sacred duty to care equally for all those committed to our guardianship, we can recognize no difference between one person and another or between one class and another. They are all our beloved children, whatever their persuasion or creed, and we desire to protect, foster, guide, and advance them by every means in our power.

Out of the great love and affection we bear our beloved subjects, we have called you to do your part in working for the well being of this State. We have appointed your task and indicated the lines of the service you can render to yourselves and to your Ruler whose ordained duty it is to safeguard and promote your best interests. We desire you to enter upon the discharge of your responsibilities in such, a way that your behaviour may be an example to others and your achievements at once a model for them to emulate and a monument to your own earnestness end your loyalty to the State that you serve.

No one here today can fail to realize that both in theory and practice, the existence of a stable society and a peaceful community involves, and presupposes, a head, whose sway must be ungrudgingly accepted, and whose behests must be loyally carried out, if the harmony and orderly progress of the community is to be achieved. In recent times. certain nations have departed from this, and the world has witnessed the sorry spectacle of chaos and anarchy. The fate of these nations should provide us with an object lesson. Those who have chosen precipitately to break from their ancient moorings have not yet found the haven of peace, they are still floundering in stormy waters. Peace and harmony are the essential conditions of progress and prosperity, and all can see that the world of the present day, after experiencing the storm and stress of unsettlement, is once again discovering the axiom that peaceful progress, even if slow, is in the long run the best indeed, the only, way.

Beware of impassioned utterances so much in vogue today. They invariably formulate unbalanced and unpractical ideals that are as much divorced from decisive factors and stern realities as they are foreign to the genius of our race. Cultivate sobriety of thought and expression, shunning all that is disruptive, and devote all your energies to creative and constructive work which alone can help to ameliorate the lot, and conduce to the happiness of those whose spokesmen you have undertaken to be.

With these words of counsel and admonition by which we hope to plant the feet of our beloved subjects on the path of solid progress and achievement, we hereby declare this Praja Sabha (State Assembly) duly and well inaugurated and opened.

May the Dispenser of all Bounties in His infinite mercy and wisdom bless your labours, and may those labours, conducted in perfect harmony, redound to the credit of our subjects whose first chosen representatives you are, and to the glory of our unique heritage and of the body politic.

Resolution of the Working Committee of the Indian National Congress

Legal Document No 59

Although the policy of the Congress regarding the State in India has been defined in its resolutions, a persistent effort is being made by or on behalf of the people of the States to get a fuller declaration of the Congress policy. The Working Committee therefore issues the following statement concerning the policy of the Congress with regard to the Princes and the people of the State:

The Indian National Congress recognises that the people in the Indian States have an inherent right to Swaraj no less than the people of British India. It has accordingly declared itself in favour of establishment of representative responsible government in the States and has in that behalf not only appealed to the Princes to establish such responsible government in their States and to guarantee fundamental rights of citizenship, like freedom of person, speech, association, of the press, to their people but has also pledged to the States people its sympathy and support in their legitimate and peaceful struggle for the attainment of full responsible government. By that declaration and by that pledge the Congress stands. The Congress feels that even in their own interests the Princes will be well advised to establish at the earliest possible moment full responsible government with their States carrying a guarantee of full rights of citizenship to their people.

It should be understood, however, that the responsibility and the burden of carrying on the struggle within the States must necessarily fall on the States people themselves. The Congress can exercise moral and friendly influence upon the States and this it is bound to do wherever possible. The Congress has no other power under existing circumstances although the people of India whether under the British, the Princes or any other power are geographically and historically one and indivisible. in the heat of controversy the limitation of the Congress is often forgotten. Indeed any other policy will defeat the common purpose.

With regard to the impending constitutional changes it has been suggested that the Congress should insist upon certain amendments of that portion of the Government of India Bill which deals with the relation of the Indian States to the Indian Federation. The Congress has more than once categorically rejected the entire scheme of constitutional reforms on the broad ground of its not being an expression of the will of the people of India and has insisted on a Constitution to be framed by a Constituent Assembly. It may not now ask for an amendment of the scheme in any particular part. To do so would amount to a reversal of the Congress policy.

At the same time it is hardly necessary to assure the people of the State that the Congress will never be guilty of sacrificing their interests in order to buy the support the Princes. From its inception the Congress has stood unequivocally for the rights of the masses of India as against any vested rights in conflict with their true interests.

Presidential Address of Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah, Muslim Conference

Legal Document No 60

(Extract)

Like us the large majority of Hindus and Sikhs in the State haveimmensely suffered at the hands of the irresponsible government. They are also steeped in deep ignorance, have to pay large taxes and are in debt and starving. Establishment of responsible government is as much necessity for them as for us. Sooner or later these people are bound to join our ranks. No amount of propaganda can keep them away from us.

The main problem therefore before us is to organise joint action and a united front against the forces that stand in our way in the achievement of our goal. This will require re-christening our organization as a non-communal political body and introducing certain amendments in its constitution and its rules.

I reiterate today what I have said so often. Firstly, we must end communalism by ceasing to think in terms of Muslims and non-muslims when discussing our political problems. Secondly there must be universal suffrage on the basis of joint electorate, without these two democracy is lifeless.

You complain that the Hindus belonging to the vested interests are reactionary and stand in the way of our progress.

But have we not had the same experience in the case of capitalist Muslim also? It is significant as well as hopeful that in spite of many difficulties in their way some non-muslims have cooperated with us though their number is very small. Their sincerity and moral courage make us feel their strength. We must, therefore, open our doors to all such Hindus and Sikhs, who like ourselves believe in the freedom of their country from the shackles of an irresponsible rule.

Resolution of the Working Committee Muslim Conference

Legal Document No 61

(Extract)

Whereas in the opinion of the working Committee the time has now come when all the progressive forces in the country should be rallied under one banner to fight for the achievement of responsible government, the Working Committee recommends to the General Council that in the forthcoming session of the Conference the name and constitution of the organisation be so altered and amended that all such people who desire to participate in the political struggle may easily become members of the Conference irrespective of their caste, creed or religion.

National Demand

Legal Document No 62

As is now well known there is a nation-wide movement afoot among the people of Jammu and Kashmir State, to bring about a complete change in the social and political outlook of the people. This Movement is not confined to any particular community or section of the public but all classes of people have begun participating in it with the fullest consciousness of the issues it involves. But we do make it perfectly clear at the very outset that our loyalty to His Highness' person and throne is unswerving and needs no reiteration.

The ultimate political goal of this movement is the achievement of the complete responsible government under the aegis of His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur. But as sponsors of this national movement, we feel that it is our bounder duty to acquaint all our countrymen as also others who are interested in it of the immediate objective we have in view.

Our Movement is essentially a movement of peace and good-will. Immediately, it aims at securing the elementary -and basic rights of citizenship. It shall certainly try to bring about such a state of affairs in this country as would make it possible for even the humblest subject of His Highness to contribute to the making of his own destinies. Our demands are modest, but they have the force of reason and justice behind them. Not that we are not conscious of our limitations; not that we are not fully aware of the fact that the Government knows its mind and has resources as its disposal to enforce its w ill. But in the soul-stirring words of Pandit Moti Lal Nehru: "However much we may be enfeebled in body, our souls have never been nor will ever be killed." Our Movement has a gigantic urge behind it. It is the urge of hunger and starvation which propels it onwards in most adverse circumstances.

The ever-growing menace of unemployment amongst our educated young men and also among the illiterate masses in the country, the incidence of numerous taxes, the burden of exorbitant land-revenue, the appalling waste of human life due to want of adequate modern medical assistance, the miserable plight of uncared-for thousands of labourers outside the state boundaries and in face of all this the patronage that is being extended by the Government in the shape of subsidies end other amenities to outside capitalists as also the top-heavy administration that daily becomes heavier, point to only one direction that the present conditions can never be better as long as a change is not made in the basic principles that are underlying the present system of Government.

Our cause is both righteous, reasonable and just. We want to be the makers of our own destinies and we want to shape the ends of things according to our choice, of course, under the august patronage of His Highness. This we cannot do, so long as a healthy change is not effected in the present system of Government. We have also come to the conclusion that without such a change it is impossible for the communities individually or the country collectively to progress. We are, therefore, of this firm belief that the Government of His Highness should, before long, be modified on the following li yes:

the present system of administration i n the State shall be replaced by Responsible Government subject to the general control and residuary powers of His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur as hereinafter mentioned;
the Ministry shall be responsible to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislature and shall have, subject to such responsibility power to control the expenditure of the revenues of the State and also to make such grants and appropriation of any part of those revenues or of any other property which is at present under the control or disposal of the Council as reserved expenditure, save and except the following which shall remain under the control of His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur: (1) Expenditure of the Military Services (2) Expenditure classed Political and Foreign (3) Payments of all debts and liabilities hitherto lawfully contracted and incurred by His Highness-in-Council on account of Government of Kashmir (4) The Dharmath Trust;
the principle of responsibility to the Legislature shall be introduced in all the branches of administration of the Government subject to general control, reservations and residuary powers vested in His Highness in respect of control of Military, Foreign and Political Affairs etc., provided that the proposal of His Highness for appropriations of any revenues or monies for Military or other expenditure for Foreign and Political purposes shall be submitted to the vote of the Legislature, but that His Highness shall have power notwithstanding the vote of the Assembly to appropriate up to a fixed maximum any sum His Highness may consider necessary for such expenditure;
the Legislature shall consist entirely of members elected by constituencies formed on the system of the adult franchise. Provision should be made for the representation of labour, trade, landlords and educational interests in the Legislature by means of election;
the election to the Legislature shall be made on the basis of joint-electorates; seats should be reserved for the minorities, and all other safeguards and weightages should be guaranteed to them in the constitution for the protection of their legitimate linguistic, religious, cultural, political and economic rights according to the principles enunciated, accepted or acted upon by the Indian National Congress from time to time. In addition to the above the religious rights and sentiments of all the communities should always be respected and not interfered with;
all the subjects of the State, without distinction of creed and caste shall be admitted for services in all armies of defence and for that purpose His Highness shall be assisted by a Minister responsible to the Assembly; and
no subject of His Highness shall be liable to suffer in liberty, life, property or of associations and free speech or in respect of writing except under sentence by an ordinary court of justice and as a result of lawful and open trial.

All this cannot be given for the mere asking. It requires wise statesmanship from the side of the Government. Our earnest desire is to avoid a strife. Let the Government make an announcement accepting the above principles and if His Highness' Government is pleased to discuss these principles with us we shall certainly and whole-heartedly co-operate for this purpose. We are sure that if this is done there will reign peace all around.

(Sd.) Sh. Mohammad Abdullah, the President of the Kashmir Muslim Conference
(Sd.) M.M. Sayeed, Member Kashmir Assembly
(Sd.) G.M. Sadiq, Member Kashmir Assembly
(Sd.) Main Ahmad Yar, Member Kashmir Assembly
(Sd.) M.A. Beg, Member Kashmir Assembly
(Sd.) Pandit Kashyay Bhandu, Editor, The Kesari
(Sd.) Pandit Prem Math Bazaz
(Sd.) S. Budh Singh
(Sd.) Pandit Jia Lal Kilam
(Sd.) Ghulam Mohammad Bakshi
(Sd.) Pandit Sham Lal Saraf
(Sd.) Dr. Pandit Shambhoo Nath Peshin

Resolution State's People's Conference, Ludhiana Session, 1939 on the treaties of Indian Princes with the Paramount Power

Legal Document No 63

Whereas great stress has been laid on old treaties between the British power and the States and attempts have been made to use these treaties to perpetuate autocracy and the semi-feudal order which so long prevailed in the States and obstruct the progress of the people, it is necessary to point out the real character of these treaties, the manner and circumstances under which they were made, the person who made them, and the interpretations placed on them in later years. Out of 552 States in India only forty have such treaties and, these were usually made after a conflict between the officers and agents of the East India Company and persons who had no status of independence, but who had come to exercise authority over part of the country, after the collapse of the central authority in India, which resulted from the fall of the Mughal empire. The treaties were made without any reference to or regard for the people and applied to then existing circumstances. Gradually, as these circumstances changed they ceased to have any importance, and many of them were ignored or even completely abrogated long ago by the practice of the Political Department of the Government of India, which varied and developed with the changing policy of the Paramount Power. In any event the treaties made over a century ago cannot be considered binding on the people of the States at a time when conditions have entirely changed. The treaties are now used by the Paramount Power to intervene in the struggle for freedom in the States in favour of the Rulers, and the obligations of this power to protect the people from misrule and oppression is ignored.

This conference strongly of opinion that these treaties should be forthwith ended as being completely out of date and inapplicable to present conditions, and it calls upon the Paramount Power to refuse help to misrule and who attempt to crush the movement for freedom in these States.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's remarks in treaty rights of Princes in his Presidential Address at Ludhiana Session

Legal Document No 64

We are told now of the so called independence of the States and of their treaties with the Paramount Power which are sacrosanct and inviolable and apparently must go on for ever and ever. We have recently seen what happens to international treaties and the most sacred of covenants when they do not suit the purpose of Imperialism. We have seen these treaties torn up, friends and allies basely deserted and betrayed and the pledged word broken by England and France. Democracy and freedom were the sufferers and so it did not matter. But when reaction and autocracy and imperialism stand to lose, it does matter and treaties, however moth-eaten and harmful to the people they might be, have to be preserved. It is a monstrous imposition to be asked to put up with these treaties of a century and a quarter ago, in the making of which the people had no voice or say. It is fantastic to expect the people keep on their chains of slavery, imposed upon them by force an fraud, and to submit to a system which crushes the life-blood out of them. We recognise no such treaties and we shall in no event accept them. The only final authority and paramount power that we recognise is the will of the people, and the only thing that counts ultimately is the good of the people.

Jammu and Kashmir Constitution Act

Legal Document No 65

Whereas

It is expedient to consolidate and amend the law relating to the Government of Jammu and Kashmir: we are hereby pleased to enact as follows:

Preamble.

This Act may be cited as the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution Act of 1966.
This Act shall extend to the whole of the Jammu and Kashmir State and shall come into force at once.
In this Act unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context;

"Council" means the Council of Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir referred to in section 7;
"Gazettee" means the Jammu and Kashmir Government Gazette;
"His Highness" means 'His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur' of Jammu and Kashmir;
"Official" and "non-official" mean respectively a person who is and a person who is not in the Civil or Military Service of the State, provided that rules under this Act may provide for the holders of such offices or any of them as may be specified in the rules not being treated for purposes of this Act as officials;
"Rules" mean the rules made under this Act; and (f) "State" means the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

The territories for the time being vested in His Highness are governed by and in the name of His Highness, and all rights, authority and jurisdiction which appertain or are incidental to the government of such territories are exercisable by His Highness, except in so far as may be others is provided by or under this Act, or as may be otherwise directed by His Highness.

Notwithstanding anything contained in this or any other Act all powers, legislative, executive and judicial, in relation to the State and its government are hereby declared to be and to have always been inherent in and possessed and retained by His Highness and nothing contained in this or any other Act shall affect or be deemed to have affected the right and prerogative of His Highness to make laws, and issue proclamations, orders and ordinances by virtue of his inherent authority.

6. The Executive

Subject always to the provisions of sections 4 and 5 and subject also to such rules of business and allocation of portfolios and such other directions as to consultations with or reports to and confirmation by His Highness on special matters as His Highness may give from time to time by general or special orders in that behalf, the superintendence, direction and control of the civil administration and government of the State shall be vested in the Council.

The Council shall consist of the Prime Minister for the time being and such other Ministers of State as His Highness may appoint by Royal Warrant of appointment. The Prime Minister and the other Minister shall be responsible to His Highness and shall hold office during the pleasure of His Highness. The Prime Minister shall be the President of the Council.
Every person appointed to be a member of the Council shall before entering on the duties of his office make and subscribe before His Highness or any other officer authorised by His Highness in this behalf on oath of allegiance in the form set out in schedule I.
The Prime Minister may with the previous sanction of His Highness make rules for the more convenient transaction of the business of the Council.

His Highness may appoint a person qualified to be appointed a Judge of High Court to be Advocate General for the State subject to such rules as may be made by the Council in this behalf
It shall be the duty of the Advocate General to give advice on such legal matters and to perform such other duties of a legal character as may from time to time be referred or assigned to hind by the Council;
The Advocate General shall be appointed for such period and on such salary or other remuneration and on such terms and conditions of service as Hiss Highness may fix.

Orders end other instruments made and executed in the name of His Highness or of the Council shall be authenticated in such manner as may be specified in rules to be made by His Highness and the validity of an order or instrument which is so authenticated shall not be called in question on the ground that it is not an order or instrument made or executed by His Highness or the Council as the case may be.
The Council may make rules not inconsistent with this. Act for the following matters:

the term of office of the nominated members of' the Praja Sabha and the matter of filling casual vacancies among them;
the conditions under which and the manner in which persons may be nominated as members of the Praja Sabha;
the qualifications of electors, the constitution of constituencies and their territorial extent, the method of election of the members of the Praja Sabha and any matters incidental or ancillary thereto;
the qualifications for being or being chased as members of the Praja Sabha;
the final decision of doubts and disputes as to the validity of an election;
the prevention of corrupt practices at election;
the manner in which rules should be carried into effect;
regulating the course of business and the preservations of order in the Praja Sabha;
prohibiting or regulating the asking of questions on and the discussion of any subject specified in the rules;
fixing the dates and the procedure for the presentation and discussion of the annual financial statement;
fixing the halting and travelling allowances of members of the Praja Sabha for attending meetings of the Praja Sabha or of the Committees hereof.
the duties of Praja Sabha Under-Secretaries
the duties of the Advocate General; and
generally for carrying out the provisions of this Act.

THE LEGISLATURE

Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Legislature of the State shall consist of His Highness and a chamber to be known as the Praja Sabha.

The Praja Sabha shall consist of the President and seventy five other members.
The members of the Council shall be ex-officio members of the Praja Sabha.
Of the remaining members, forty shall be elected! and the rest nominated by His Highness.
Thirty three of the elected members shall represent the communities and the general constituencies shown in schedule II and seven shall represent the special constituencies shown in schedule III.
Of the nominated members referred to in subsection.

fourteen shall represent the areas and communities shown in Schedule IV, and

(b) not more than eight shall be officials.

Rules may be made under clause (c) of section 12 altering the- constituencies and their territorial extent as shown in schedule IV but such rules shall not have effect unless sanctioned by His Highness.
His Highness may for the purpose of any Bill introduced or proposed to be introduced in the Praja Sabha nominate not more than two persons having special knowledge or experience of the subject matter of the Bill, and these persons shall, in relation to the Bill, have, for the period for which they are nominated all the rights of members of the Praja Sabha, and shall be in addition to the members above referred to.

15. (1) Every Praja Sabha shall continue for three years from its first meeting;
Provided that His Highness may:

(a) at any time dissolve that Praja Sabha before the expiry of its term; or

(b) extend the term of the Praja Sabha if in special circumstances he so thinks fit.

(2) His Highness shall appoint a date not more than six months after the date of expiry of the term of the Praja Sabha or of its dissolution for its next session.

(a) there shall be every year at least one session of the Praja Sabha at Jammu and another at Srinagar;

(b) subject to the provisions of this section, His Highness may from time to time.

summon the Praja Sabha at such time and place as he thinks fit; or
prorogue the Praja Sabha; or

(iii) dissolve the Praja Sabha.

16. Communication by His Highness to the Praja Sabha may be made

in person; or
by message sent through the Prime Minister or any other Minister; or
by message sent through the President or any other person presiding under the provisions of section 20.

The Deputy President shall perform such duties of the President as may be assigned to him by the President with the approval of the Council and shall, during the absence of the President from any sitting of the Praja Sabha, act as President.

(3) During the temporary absence of the President and the Deputy President from a meeting of the Praja Sabha such person shall act as President as His Highness may by general or special order in that behalf direct.

Communications by the Praja Sabha to His Highness shall be made by formal address submitted through the President after motion made and carried in the Praja Sabha.
The Advocate General shall have the right to speak in the Praja Sabha and to take part in its proceedings and in the Proceedings of any of its committees but shall not, merely by virtue of this section, have a right to vote.
The President of the Praja Sabha shall be appointed by His Highness for such term as he may fix and he may remove the President from office and fill casual vacancies in that office.
(1) The Praja Sabha shall choose one of its members to be the Deputy President thereof and so often as the office of the Deputy President becomes vacant the Praja Sabha shall choose another member to the Deputy President.
A member holding the office of Deputy President shall vacate his office if he ceases to be a member of the Praja Sabha, may, at any time, resign his office by writing under his hand addressed to the Prime Minister, and may be removed from his office by a resolution of the Praja Sabha passed by a majority of the members then on the roll of the Praja Sabha.
His Highness may appoint from among the non-official members of the Praja Sabha as many under-Secretaries and for such period not exceeding the life of the Praja Sabha as he may think fit. An under- Secretary shall be attached to one or more ministers and will be assigned such duties in relation to the business coming before the Praja Sabha as may be prescribed by rules in this behalf.
Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Praja Sabha may make laws for whole State or any part thereof, and for the subjects of His Highness wherever they may be.
It shall not be lawful for the Praja Sabha to consider or deal with any matter or enact any law relating to or affecting:

His Highness or any member of the Royal Family or the management of the Royal house-hold;
relations, treaties, convention or agreements between the State and His Majesty the King Emperor of India or the Government of India or with Foreign powers or the Government of any State in India now subsisting or in force or hereafter to be established or made;
matters of frontier policy including those relating to Ladakh and Gilgit;
Such matters relating to the Jagirs of Poonch and Chenani as His Highness may specify;
rights specifically granted to Illaqadars or Jagirdars by their sanads;
the organization, discipline and control of the State Forces;
the departments declared by Highness from time to time as Hazure departments;
the Dharmarth Trust;
the provisions of this Act and the rules made thereunder and their repeal or modification; and
such other matters as may be specified by His Highness from time to time.

25. (1) All questions at any sitting of the Praja Sabha shall be determined by a majority of votes of the members present and voting other than the President or person acting as such:

Provided that, in the case of an equality of votes, the President or person acting as such shall exercise a casting vote.

The Praja Sabha shall have power to act notwithstanding any vacancy in the membership thereof and any proceedings in the Praja Sabha shall be valid notwithstanding that it is discovered subsequently that some person who was not entitled so to do sat or voted or otherwise took part in the proceedings.
If at any time during a meeting of the Praja Sabha less than one-fifth of the total number of members are present, it shall be the duty of the President or persons acting as such either to adjourn the Praja Sabha or to suspend the meeting until at least one-fifth of the members are present.

PROVISIONS AS TO MEMBERS OF THE PRAJA SABHA

Every member of the Praja Sabha, other than an ex-officio member, shall, before taking his seat, make and subscribe at a meeting of the Praja Sabha before the President or such person as may be authorised by His Highness in this behalf, an oath or affirmation in the form set out in Schedule 1.
(1) If a member of the Praja Sabha,

becomes subject to any of the disqualifications mentioned in sub-section (1) of the next succeeding section, or
by writing under his hand addressed to the Prime Minister resigns his seat, his seat shall thereupon become vacant.

(2) If for two consecutive sessions of the Praja Sabha a member is without the permission of the President absent from all meetings thereof, the President may declare his seat vacant.

28. (1) A person shall be disqualified for being chosen as or for being a member of the Praja Sabha,

if he is an official; (provided that this shall not apply to the exofficio members or to the officials nominated under section 14, or to the President or to the Deputy President, or to the Under Secretaries appointed under Section 2)
if he is under 25 years of age;
if he is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent Court:
if he is an undischarged insolvent or being a dischargedinsolvent has not obtained from a competent Court a certificate that his insolency was caused by misfortune without any misconduct on his part;
if he is a person against whom a conviction by a Criminal Court for an offence punishable a with sentence of imprisonment for a term of six months or more is subsisting or an order binding him to be of good behaviour has been passed or an order of internment or externment passed by a Magistrate or the Council or His Highness is in force, unless a period of five years or such less period as His Highness may allow in any particular case has elapsed since release or the expiry of the period specified in the order;
if he has been convicted or has in proceedings for questioning the validity or regularity of an election, been found guilty of any offense or corrupt or illegal practice relating to elections, which has been declared by any law to be an offense or has been declared by any rule or order of the Council to be a practice entailing disqualification for membership of the Praja Sabha, unless a period of three years has expired from the date of such conviction or finding;
if, having been elected a member of the Praja Sabha, he has failed to lodge a return of election expenses within the time and in the manner required by the rules under this Act, unless a period of three years has expired from the date by which the return ought to have been lodged or His Highness has removed the disqualifications7

A person shall not be capable of being chosen a member of the Praja Sabha while he is serving a sentence of imprisonment for a criminal offense, or is under dentention for failure to furnish security for keeping the peace or for good behaviour.

Subject to the provisions of this Act and to the rules and standing orders regulating the procedure of the Praja Sabha there shall be freedom of speech in the Praja Sabha and no member of the Praja Sabha shall be liable to any proceeding in any Court in respect of anything said or any vote given by him in the Praja Sabha or any Committee thereof, and no person shall be so liable in respect of the publication by or under the authority of the Praja Sabha of any report, paper, votes or proceedings.
The President, the Deputy President and the Under Secretaries of the Praja Sabha shall receive such honoraria as may be determined by His Highness. The members of the Praja Sabha shall be entitled to receive such halting and travelling allowances as may be fixed by rules in this behalf.

LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURE

31.

Where a Bill has been passed by the Praja Sabha, the Prime Minister may, instead of presenting it for the assent of His Highness, return it to the Praja Sabha for reconsideration in whole or in part, together with any amendments which he may recommend.
Where a Bill has been passed by the Praja Sabha and has not been returned to it by the Prime Minister for reconsideration it shall be submitted for the assent of His Higness, who may declare either that the assent thereto, or withholds his assent therefrom.
A Bill which is assented to under the last preeeding sub-section shall be published in the Gazette in English and shall then become an Act and have the force of Law.
In all the Regulations in force in the State on the date on which this Act comes into force and in the rules orders, proclamations and notifications issued under such Regulations, the word 'Act' shall, unless the context otherwise, requires, be substituted for the word 'Regulation'.

32. Subject to such restrictions and conditions as are imposed by this Act or may be imposed by rules or standing orders, any member may

ask questions; and
move resolutions: provided that no question shall be asked and no resolution shall be moved which affects the religious rights, usages, endowments or personal law of any community and is not asked or moved by a member of that community.

PROCEDURE GENERALLY

33. The business of the Praja Sabha shall be transacted in Urdu but any member may address the Praja Sabha in English.

Provided that the text of all Bills and amendments there to moved in, and of all Acts passed by, the Praja Sabha, which shall be treated as authoritative, shall be in English.

Where the Praja Sabha refuses leave to introduce, or fails to pass in a form recommended by the Council, any Bill, His Highness may declare that the proposed legislation is essential for the good government, safety or tranquillity of the State and such Bill shall, on such declaration, become an Act as if it had been passed by the Praja Sabha and assented to by His Highness.
If the Prime Minister at any time certifies that the discussion of a Bill introduced or proposed to be introduced in the Praja Sabha or of any specified clause of a Bill, or of any amendment moved or proposed to be moved to a Bill or of any resolution or of an amendment there to would affect, the safety or tranquillity of the State or any part thereof, he may direct that no proceedings. or no further proceedings, shall be taken in relation to the Bill, clause or amendment, or resolution or its amendment, and effect shall be given to the direction.
It shall not be lawful, without the previous sanction of His Highness, to introduce, consider or pass any Bill affecting the religious rights, usages, endowments or personal law of any community, and no such Bill shall be deemed to be passed by the Praja Sabha unless two third of the members of the Praja Sabha from the community affected are present at the meeting of the Praja Sabha and vote in its favour.
No discussion shall be allowed in the Praja Sabha with regard to the conduct of any member of His Highness Board of Judicial Advisers or of any Judge of the High Court in the discharge of his duties.
Notwithstanding anything contained In this Act, the Council may, in case of emergency or where immediate legislation is required in any matter affecting the peace and good government of the State, submit to His Highness an Ordinance and such Ordinance on being assented to His Highness shall have the force of law for a period not exceeding six months from the date of its promulgation.
It shall not be lawful for the Praja Sabha to repeal or alter any ordinance passed under section.
Standing orders may be made and altered by the Praja Sabha providing for the conduct of business and the procedure to be followed in the Praja Sabha. Any standing order which is repugnant to the provisions of this Act or to any rules made thereunder shall to the extent of that repugnancy but not otherwise, be void.

PROCEDURE IN FINANCIAL MATTERS

41. The Council shall in respect of every financial year cause to be laid before the Praja Sabha a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the State for the year:

Provided that the estimated receipts and expenditure relating to the Jagirs of Poonch and Chenani shall be shown separately in the statement.

42. The estimates of expenditure embodied in the annual financial statement shall show separately:

the sums required to meet expenditure described by this Act as expenditure charged upon the revenues of the State; and
the sums required to meet other expenditure proposed to be met from the revenues of the State.

43. The following expenditure shall be the expenditure charged on the revenues of the State:

expenditure on matters reserved from the cognizance of the Praja Sabha under section 24;
contributions payable to other Governments
expenditure obligatory under any law
interest on loans and sinking fund charges;
expenditure which may be classed by His Highness or the Council as political;
pensions and gratuities granted by His Highness or with his sanction or under the rules sanctioned by His Highness or the Council;
contributions, grants and scholarships sanctioned by His Highness;
salaries of the Judges of the High Court and the members of His Highness Board of Judicial Advisers:
salaries of such other officers as His Highness may specify from time to time; and
such other expenditure as His Highness may specify from time to time.

Any question whether any proposed expenditure falls within a class of expenditure charged on the revenues of the State shall be decided by the Prime Minister and such decision shall be final.

So much of the estimates of expenditure as relates to the expenditure charged on the revenues of the State shall not be submitted to the vote of the Praja Sabha.
So much of the said estimates as relates to the other expenditure shall be submitted to the Praja Sabha in the form of demands for grants. The Praja Sabha shall have power to assent or to refuse to assent to any demand or to assent to a demand subject to a reduction of the amount specified therein. provided that:

the Council shall have power, in relation to any such demand, to act as if it had been assented to, notwithstanding the withholding of such assent or the reduction of the amount therein specified, if the Council considers that the expenditure provided for by the demand is necessary for the carrying on of any department or for the discharge of the Council's responsibility for its administration; and
His Highness may in cases of emergency authorise such expenditure as may in his opinion be necessary for the safety or tranquillity of the State or any part thereof or for the carrying on of any department.

(3) No demand for a grant shall be made except on the recommendation of the Council.

If in respect of any financial year further expenditure from the revenues of the State becomes necessary over and above the expenditure authorised from that year, the Council shall have the power to authorise that expenditure. A statement of the expenditure so authorised shall be presented to the Praja Sabha along with the financial statement for the following year.
(1) A Bill or amendment making provision:

for imposing, increasing or decreasing any tax, or
for regulating the borrowing of money or the giving of any guarantee by the Council or for amending the law with respect to any financial obligation undertaken by the Council, or
for declaring any expenditure to be expenditure charged on the revenues of the State, shall not be introduced or moved except with the previous sanction of the Prime Minister.

A Bill or amendment shall not be deemed to make provision for any of the purposes aforesaid by reason only that it provides for the imposition of fines or other pecuniary penalties, or for the demand or payment of fees for licences or fees for services rendered.
A Bill which, if enacted and brought into operation, would involve expenditure from the revenues of the State shall not be passed by the Praja Sabha unless the Council has recommended to the consideration of the Bill.

THE JUDICATURE: THE HIGHCOURT 48.

the High Court referred to in this Act is the High Court established in the State by Order No. 1 of 1985 and styled as the High Court of Judicature, Jammu and Kashmir State; and
the High Court shall consist of a Chief Justice and two or more other Judges, as His Highness. may from time to time think fit to appoint.

49. Every Judge of the High Court shall be appointed by His Highness and shall hold office until he attains the age of fifty five years, unless His Highness otherwise directs:

Provided that:

a Judge may by resignation under his hand' addressed to the Prime Minister resign his office;
a Judge may be removed from his office by order of His Highness on the ground of misbehavior or of infirmity of mind or body.

50.

The Chief Justice shall have rank and precedence before the other Judges.
All the other Judges shall have rank and precedence according to the seniority of their appointments.

51. A person shall not be qualified for appointment as a Judge of the High Court unless he;

is a barrister of England or Ireland or member of the Faculty of Advocates in Scotland of not less than ten years standing; or
has for at least three years held a judicial office in the State not inferior to that of a District Judge; or
has for at least five years held a judicial office in the State or in British India, not inferior to that of a subordinate Judge, or a Judge of a Small Causes Court; or is an Advocate of the High Court or of any High Court in British India, and is a barrister of England or Ireland or a member of the faculty of Advocates in Scotland or a law graduate of any recognised University in India who has been practicing as an Advocate of the High Court or of any High Court in British India for a period of at least ten years.

The Chief Justice and the other Judges of the High Court shall receive such salaries and allowances as His Highness may from time to time fix in this behalf.
Every person appointed to be a Judge of the High Court shall before he enters upon his office make and subscribe His Highness or some person appointed by him an oath according to form set out in that behalf in schedule 1 of this Act.
The High Court of Judicature shall have and use as occasion may require a seal bearing and advice impression of the Jammu and Kashmir Coat of Arms with an exergue or label surrounding the same, with the following inscription, "The seal of the High Court of Judicature, Jammu and Kashmir". The said seal shall be delivered to and kept in the custody of the Chief Justice or of an officer the Court from time to time nominated by the Chief Justice.
All writs, summonses, precepts, rules order and other mandatory processes to be used by the High Court shall run and be in the name and style of His Highness and shall be sealed with the seal of the High Court.

The High Court is a Court of record.
The High Court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine any original civil suit or other proceeding of which the value is not less than rupees ten thousand and every such suit or proceeding shall be instituted in the High Court.
The High Court shall have jurisdiction to entertain and dispose of such appeals, revisions and other cases-civil, criminal or revenue-as it may be empowered to do under any enactment in force in the State.

The usual places of sittings of the High Court shall be Jammu and Kashmir (Srinagar) and His Highness may by order direct for what period the High Court sit at each such place.
Whenever it appears to the Chief Justice convenient that the jurisdiction and power vested in the High Court by this Act or by any other enactment for the time being in force should be exercised in any place within the jurisdiction of any court subject to the superintendence of the High Court, other than the usual places of sitting of the High Court, or at several such places by way of circuit, one or more Judges of the High Court shall with the previous sanction of His Highness hold Court at such place or places.
Except as provided by any enactment of the time being in force, all original proceedings and suits shall be heard and decided by a single Judge of the High Court.

60.

Except as otherwise provided by any enactment for the time being in force and subject to any rules made in this behalf, the Jurisdiction of the High Court of Judicature may be exercised by a single Judge of the Court or by a bench of two or more Judges of the Court.
Except as otherwise provided by any enactment for the time being in force, an appeal from any original decree or from any order against which an appeal is permitted by any law for the time being in force passed or made by a single Judge of the High Court shall lie to a bench consisting of two other Judges of the High Court.
Unless such appeal is prohibited by any enactment for the time being in force an appeal from an appellate decree made by a single Judge of the High Court shall lie to a bench consisting of two other Judges of the High Court, where the Judge who passed decree declares that the case is a fit one for appeal.

The Chief Justice shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, determine which Judge in each case will sit alone and which Judge of the Court will constitute a bench.

When there is a difference of opinion among the Judges composing any bench of the High Court, the decision shall be in accordance with the opinion.. Of the majority of the Judges.
If there is no such majority, then

if the bench is a full bench, the decision shall be in accordance with the decision of the Senior Judge, and
in other cases the bench before which the difference has arisen shall either refer the question or the whole case for decision to a full bench.

63.

Any single Judge, and any bench of two Judges of the High Court, not being a full bench may, in any case, refer for the decision of a full bench any question of law, or custom having the force of law, or of the construction of any document, or of the admissibly or any evidence, arising before such single Judge or bench and shall dispose of the case in accordance with the decision of the full bench.
Any Judge of the High Court may, if he thinks fit, refer any appeal or application coming before him for hearing as a single Judge to a bench of two Judges for decision.

64.

Subject to such rules and regulations as His Highness may make, the High Court shall have superintendence and control over all Courts for the time being subject to its appellate or revisional jurisdiction, and all such Courts shall be subordinate to the High Court.
The Chief Justice, or a Judge of the High Court authorised by him in this behalf, shall from time to time visit and inspect the proceedings of the Courts subordinate to the High Court and shall give such directions in matter not provided for bylaw as may be necessary to secure the due administration of justice.

65.

The High Court may, subject to the sanction of the Council and on such terms as to salary, allowances, promotion, leave, suspension and dismissal, as may be sanctioned by the Council, appoint a Registrar and a Deputy Registrar.
The High Court may delegate to the Registrar or the Deputy Registrar or both such judicial, quasi-judicial or administrative powers as it may deem fit.

The High Court shall comply with such requisitions, as may, from time to time, be made under the commands of His Highness for records, returns and statements in such form or manner as His Highness may require;

(1) The High Court may, consistently with the laws for the time being in force, make rules:

to regulate the practice of the Court;
to regulate the practice of the Courts subordinate thereto,
to provide for the forms to be used in the High Court and the Courts subordinate thereto for such proceedings, books, entries, statistics, and accounts as it thinks fit;
to provide for the inspection of Courts subordinate thereto and the supervision of the work thereof;
to regulate all such matters as it may think fit with a view to promote the efficiency of the judicial and ministerial officers of the High Court and of the Courts subordinate thereto, and the maintaining of proper discipline among those officers; and
prescribing the qualifications for and admission of persons to the Advocates, Vakils and Attorneys-at-law of the High Court and providing for the removal or suspension from practice, on reasonable cause, of the said Advocates, Vakils and Attorneys-at-law

(2) Such rules shall be made with approval of a majority of tile Judges of the Court and the sanction of the Council.

The High Court shall have the power to approve, admit and enroll such and so many Advocates, Vakils, and Attorneys-at-law, as it may deem fit.
The High Court shall have the poker to punish with fine not exceeding rupees one thousand or with simple imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or with both any person who is guilty of contempt in relation to itself or to any Court subordinate to it; Provided that the High Court shall not take cognizance of a contempt alleged to have been committed in respect of a Court subordinate to it when such contempt is an offense punishable under the Ranbir Penal Code.
Notwithstanding anything provided in any enactment to the contrary, no Judge of the High Court sitting in a full bench thereof shall, by reason of his having: decided or otherwise dealt with any case, be barred from hearing and deciding the case.

HIS HIGHNESS' BOARD OF JUDICIAL ADVISERS

71.

His Highness may appoint a Board of Judicial Advisers to advise him for the disposal of such civil and criminal appeals as may, under the law for the time being in force, lie to His Highness from the decisions of the High Court, and on such other matters as His Highness may choose to refer to such Board for advice.
Such Board shall - be composed of as many members as His Highness may from time to time determine and such members shall be appointed by His Highness for such period and no such terms as to salary and other conditions of service as His Highness may consider proper.
Every person appointed to be a member of the Board shall, before he enters upon his office, make and subscribe before His Highness or some person appointed by him an oath according to the form set out in that behalf in Schedule 1 of this Act.
His Highness may appoint any person as an ex-officio member of the Board of Judicial Advisers to discharge the functions of the Board during the period such Board is not in session, provided that Such ex-officio member shall not sit on the bench of the Board for hearing any appeal or other matter as is referred to such Board for advice.
His Highness may make rules regulating the procedure regarding the filing of appeals to His Highness, the place or places and the period of sittings of the Board of Judicial Advisers and the hearing as such appeals and other matter as are referred to the Board for advice.
The Board may, from time to time with the sanction of His Highness, add to, alter or amend the rules of procedure in such manners as they think fit.

ROYAL PREROGATIVE

72. Nothing herein contained and nothing contained in any other enactment for the time being in force, shall be deemed to affect in any way or derogate from the inherent power and prerogative of His Highness or to affect in any way his prerogative of mercy and pardon, or his power of remitting, commuting or reducing sentences conditionally or otherwise.

GENERAL CONSTITUENCIES

S. No. (1)	Name of Constituency (2)	Extent of Constituency (3)	No. of Members (4)
(A) MUSLIM
1	Jammu City Muslim	The City of Jammu	1
2	Jammu Rural Muslim	The wazarat of Jammu excluding Jammu City	1
3	Udhampur Muslim	The Wazarat of Udhampur	1
4	Reasi Muslim	The Wazarat of Reasi	1
5	Kathua Muslim	The Wazarat of Kathua	1
6	Mirpur-Kotli	The Tehsils of Mirpur and Kotli	1
7	Bhimber	The Tehsil of Bhimber	1
8	Haveli-Mandhar	The Tehsils of Haveli and Mendhar, Jagir Poonch.	1
9	Bagh Sudhnuti	The Tehsils of Bagh and Sudhnuti, Jagir Poonch	1
10	Amirakadal	Ward No. 1 Srinagar City	1
11	Rainawari-Mahrajganj	Ward Nos. 5,6 and 8 Srinagar City.	1
12	Fateh Kadal - Tankipura	Ward Nos. 2 and 3 Srinagar City.	1
13	Shah Hamdan	Ward No. 4 Srinagar City	1
14	Tashwan	Ward No. 7 Srinagar City	1
15	Awantipur	The Tehsils of Srinagar excluding Srinagar City, and Pulwama.	1
16	Anantnag	The Tehsil of Anantnag	1
17	Kulgam	The Tehsil of Kulgam	1
18	Handwara	Uttarmachipura Tehsil	1
19	Badgam	Sri Pratapsinghpura Tehsil	1
20	Baramulla	The Tehsil of Baramulla	1
21	Muzaffarabad	The Wazarat of Muzaffarabad	1
(B) HINDU
22	Jammu City North	Ward Nos. 1, 2 and 3 Jammu City	1
23	Jammu City South	Ward Nos. 4,5,6 and 7 Jammu City	1
24	Jammu Rural	The Wazarat of Jammu, excluding Jammu City	1
25	Udhampur Hindu	The Wazarat of Udhampur	1
26	Reasi Hindu	The Wazarat of Reasi	1
27	Kathua Hindu	The Wazarat of Kathua	1
28	Mirpur Hindu	The Wazarat of Mirpur	1
29	Srinagar South	Ward Nos. 1,2 and 3 Srinagar City	1
30	Srinagar North	Wards Nos. 4,5,6,7 and 8 Srinagar City	1
31	Kashmir Hindu	The Wazarats of Kashmir North, Kashmir South (excluding Srinagar City and Muzaffarabad)	1
(C) SIKH
32	Mirpur-Poonch Sikh	The Wazarat of Mirpur and jagir of Poonch	1
33	West Kashmir Sikh	The Wazarat of Muzaffarabad and Tehsil Uttarmachipura and Baramulla
SPECIAL CONSTITUENCIES
S. No. (1)	Name of Constituency (2)	Extent of Constituency (3)	No. of Members (4)
TAZIMI SARDARS
1	Jammu Province including Chenani and Poonch Jagirs.		1
2	Kashmir Province including Frontier Districts.		1
(B) JAGIRDARS, MUAFIDARS, MUKKARARIDARS Holding a Jagir, Muafior Mukkarari from the State on not less than Rs. 500 per annum.
3	Jammu Province including Chenani and Poonch Jagirs.		1
4	Kashmir Province including Frontier Districts.		1
(C) LANDHOLDERS Owing land assessed to Land Revenue of not less than Rs.250 per annum.
5	Jammu Province including Chenani and Poonch Jagirs.		1
6	Kashmir Province including Frontier Districts.		1
(D) PENSIONERS Receiving Rs. 100 or more as persion per month.
7	Jammu and Kashmir State.		1
AREAS FOR WHICH MEMBERS SHALL BE NOMINATED
S. No. (1)	AREAS (2)	COMMUNITY (3)	No. of Members (4)
1	Ladakh Wazarat	Buddhist	2
2	Skardu Tebsil	Muslim	1
3	Kargil Tehsil	Muslim	1
4	Gilgit Wazarat	Muslim	1
5	North Kashmir Wazarat	Muslim	1
6	South Kashmir Wazarat	Muslim	1
7	Muzaffarabad Wazarat	Muslim	1
8	Jammu Wazarat	Hindu	1
9	Udhampur Wazarat	Hindu	1
10	Srinagar City	Hindu other than Kashmari Pandit	1
11	Poonch Jagir	Hindu	1
12	Chenani Jagir	Hindu	1
13	Wazarat Jammu, Udhampur, Reasi, Kathua, Sikh Kashmir South and Sri Pratapsinghpura	Sikh	1

Jammu and Kashmir Praja Sabha Rules of Business and Procedure,1939

Legal Document No 66

(Extract)

CHAPTER II
DURATION AND SESSION OF THE PRAJASABHA

6. Summoning of Praja Sabha and dates of meeting:

The Secretary will issue a notice to each member of the time and place at which the Praja Sabha is summoned by His Highness and such notice shall be issued sixty clear days before the date for which the Praja Sabha is summoned.
After the commencement of a session the Praja Sabha shall sit on such days as the Prime Minister, having regard to the State of business, may from time to time direct.

7. Termination of the Session .... (l) A session of the Praja Sabha is terminated by progation by His Highness. (2) On the termination of a session

all pending notices shall lapse so that a member will be required to send new notices in regard to business for the next session;
any bill which has been introduced, and any motion for the amendment of the standing orders, which has received the leave of the Praja Sabha, shall be carried over to the pending list of business of the next session:

Provided

that if the member-in-charge of a bill makes no motion in regard to the same during the next two sessions, the bill shall lapse.

8. Effect of dissolution...on the dissolution of the Praja Sabha all questions and all bills other then Government bills shall lapse excepting as may be provided for by standing orders made in this behalf.

CHAPTER III
THE PRESIDENT, THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT AND THE SECRETARY

9. Election of the Deputy President...the Praja Sabha shall choose a Deputy President in the following manner:

The President shall fix a date for elector of the Deputy President.
At any time before noon on the day preceding the date so fixed, any member may nominate another member for election by delivering to the Secretary a nomination paper containing the name of the member nominated and signed by himself as proposer and by a third member as seconder and also by the member nominated in token of his consent to serve as Deputy President, if elected.
On the date fixed for election the President shall read out to the Praja Sabha the names of the candidates nominated together with those of their proposers and seconders; and if only one person has been nominated for election, the President shall declare that person to be duly elected. If more than one person has been nominated, the Praja Sabha shall then proceed to elect a Deputy President by ballot.
The ballot shall be taken in such manner as the President may determine and the candidate, who obtains more votes than those obtained by the other candidate, or than the aggregate of the votes obtained by the other candidates, as the case may be, shall be declared duly elected.
Where more than two candidates have been nominated and at the first ballot no candidate obtain more votes than the aggregate votes obtained by the other candidates, the candidate who has obtained the smallest number of votes shall be excluded from the election, and fresh ballot shall take place, the candidate obtaining the smallest number of votes at each ballot being excluded from the election, until one candidate obtains more votes than the remaining candidates, or than the aggregate votes of the remaining candidates, as the case may be.
Where at any ballot any of three or more candidates obtain an equal number of votes the candidate to be excluded from the election under clause (5) shall be determined by drawing of lots.
Where any two candidates have been nominated and they obtain equal votes, or where the two candidates remaining after the exclusion of others under clause (5) obtain equal votes, the President shall give his casting vote and the candidate in whose favour such casting vote is given shall be declared duly elected.

CHAPTER VIII
LEGISLATION
A. INTRODUCTION OF BILLS

Publication of bills before introduction...The Council may order the publication of any bill together with the statement of objects and reasons in the gazette although no motion has been m,ade for leave to introduce the bill. In that case it shall not be necessary to move for leave to introduce the bill and if the bill is afterwards introduced, it shall not be necessary to publish it again.
Notice of a motion for leave to introduce bill....(l) Any member, other than a member acting on behalf of the Council, desiring to move for leave to introduce a bill, shall give notice of his intention to do so and shall together with the notice, submit a copy of the bill and a full statement of objects and reasons....(2) If the bill is a bill which under the Act requires sanction, the member shall annex to the notice a copy of such sanction, and the notice shalt not be valid until this requirement is complied with.
Effect of certification by Prime Minister....If the Prime Minister certifies that a bill or any clause of a bill or any amendment to a bill affects the safety and tranquility of the State, or any part of it, and directs that no proceedings or no further proceedings shall be taken thereon, all notices of motions in connection with the subject matter of the certificate shall lapse and if any such motion has not already been set down in the list of business, it shall not be so set down. If any such motion has been set down on the list of business, the President shall, when the motion is reached, inform the Praja Sabha, and the Praja Sabha shall forth well without debate proceed to the next item of business.
Motion for leave to introduce a bill.... (l) Except when the publication of a bill has been made as provided in rule 62, any member desiring to introduce a bill in the Praja Sabha shall make a motion for leave to introduce the bill and if the motion is not opposed by any other member, the motion shall be deemed to have been carried...(2) The precedence of motions for leave to introduce nonofficial bills shall be determined by ballot to be held in accordance with the rules contained in Schedule I.
Procedure when motion for leave to introduce is opposed ...lf a motion for leave to introduce is opposed, the President, after permitting, if he thinks fit, a brief explanatory statement from the member who moves and from the member who opposes the motion, may put the question without further debate.
Introduction of bills....At any time after a bill has been published in the gazette under orders of the Council as provided in rule 62, or after the motion for leave to introduce has been carried, the member-in-charge of the bill may introduce it.
Publication of the bills after introduction....As soon as may be after a bill has been introduced, the bill, unless it has already been published, shall be published in the gazette.
Supply of copies to members....After a bill has been published under rule 62 or under the preceding rule, copies thereof shall be made available to the members.
Motions alter introduction....When a bill is introduced or on some subsequent occasion the member-in-charge may make one of the following motions in regard to the bill, namely:

that it be taken into consideration by the Praja Sabha either at one or at some future day to be then specified; or
that it be referred to a Selection Committee; or
that it be circulated for the purpose of eliciting opinion thereon.

Provided that no such motion shall a be made until after copies of the bill have been made available for the use of members, and that any member may object to any such motion being made unless copies of the bill haste been so made available to him for three dales before the day on which the motion is made, and such objection shall prevail, unless the President in the exercise of his power to suspend this rule, allows the motion to be made.

Persons by whom motions in respect of bills may be made....No motion that a bill be taken into consideration or be passed shall be made by any member other than the member-in-charge of the bill, and no motion that a bill be referred to a Select Committee, or circulated, or re-circulated for the purpose of eliciting opinion thereon, shall be made by any member other than the member-in-charge, except by way of amendment to a motion made by the member-in-charge.
Discussion of principles of bills....(l) On the day on which any of the motions referred to in rule 70 is made, or on any subsequent day to which the discussion thereof is postponed, the principle of the bill and its general provisions may be discussed, but the details of the bill must not be disc cussed further than is necessary to explain its principle...(2) At this stage no amendments to the bill may be moved, but;

if the member-in-charge moves that the bill be taken into consideration, any member may move as an amendment that the bill be referred to a Select Committee or be circulated for the purpose of eliciting opinion thereon by a date to be specified in the motion; or
if the member-in-charge moves that the bill be referred to a Select Committee, any member may move as an amendment that the bill be circulated for the purpose of eliciting opinion thereon by a day to be specified in the motion

When a motion that the bill be circulated for eliciting opinion is moved as an amendment and is carried no motion that it be referred to a Select Committee shall be moved or put to vote; and When a motion that the bill be referred to a Select Committee is made as an amendment and is carried, no motion that it be circulated for eliciting opinion shall be moved or put to vote.
Where a motion that a bill be circulated for the purpose of eliciting opinion thereon is carried, and the bill is circulated in accordance which that direction and opinions are received thereon, the member-in-charger if he wishes to proceed with his bill thereafter, must move that the bill be referred to a Select Committee, unless the President in the exercise of his power to suspend this rule, allows a motion to be made that the bill be taken into consideration.

73. Provision in case of failure of Praja Sabha to pass legislation where a declaration has been made under section 34 of the Act in respect of a bill, any motion made in regard to such bill shall be deemed to have been with drawn.

B. SELECT COMMITTEES

Constitution of Select Committees....The Minister to whose Department the bill relates and not more than eight other members, including in the case of a private bill the member who introduced the bill, shall be members of every Select Committee, provided that when any members have been nominated under subsection (7) of section 14 of the Act for the purpose of the bill, they shall be ex-officio members of the Select in Committee addition to the number above referred to.
Election of members....(l) The members of the Select Committee other than the Minister and the member-in-charge if any, shall be elected by the Praja Sabha when the motion that the bill be referred is made. (A there is no opposition to the names proposed, all the members proposed will be deemed to be duly elected. In case any member objects to the name of a particular member and desires his substitution by another member, the President shall put the question to the vote of the House and the member elected by majority of votes shall be the duly elected member.
Vacancy on the Select Committee... (1) In case of a vacancy occurring among the elected members of a Select Committee when the Praja Sabha is in session, the Praja Sabha may elect a member to fill the vacancy. (2) In case the vacancy occurs through death, resignation, inability to attend to duty or otherwise at a time when the Praja Sabha is not sitting, and the appear matters to be urgent, the President, may appoint any member to fill such vacancy.
Chairman....The Minister-in-charge of the Department to which the bill relates shall be the Chairman of the Select Committee, or in his absence, any other member of the Committee whom he may nominate shall act as Chairman.
Quorum:

No business shall be transacted at any sitting of the Select Committee unless a majority of the members of the Committee including the member-in-Charge of the bill be present. All matters in the Select Committee shall be decided by majority of votes of the members at a meeting and in the case of an equality of votes the Chairman shall haven second or casting vote.
If at any time fixed for any meeting of the Select Committee, or if at any time during, such meeting the quorum of members, fixed by this rule is not present. the Chairman of the Committee shall either suspend the meeting unless the quorum is present or adjourn the Committee to some future date.
Where the Select Committee has been adjourned in pursuance of sub-rule (2) on two successive days fixed for the meetings of the Committee, the Chairman shall report the fact to the Praja Sabha.

Attendance of officials....The Chairman of the Select Committee may cause any official to attend a Select Committee whose assistance he may require but such officials hall not have a vote as a member of the Committee.
Hearing expert evidence - The Select Committee may hear expert evidence and representative of special interests affected by the measure before them.
Reports of Select Committee:

After publication in the gazette of a bill as required by the rules, the Select Committee to which the bill has been referred shall make a report thereon.
Such report shall be made not-sooner than two months from the date of the first publication of the bill in the gazette unless the Praja Sabha orders the report to be made sooner.
Reports may be either preliminary or final, and shall be authenticated by the signature of the Chairman.
If the Praja Sabha has fixed a period within which the Select Committee shall submit its report upon be unable for any reason to submit its report within that period, the President, may, from time to time, extend period on the application of the member-in-charge of the bill.
The report of a Select Committee shall state the date on which the bill was published in the gazette and whether in the opinion of the Committee the bill has been so altered as to require republication or not. The report shall be signed by the members and if any member desires to record a minute of dissent on any point, he must sign the majority report, stating that he does so subject to his minute of dissent which must be handed over to the Chairman within 3 days of the date on which he signs the report.
The report of a Select, Committee together with the minutes of dissent, if any, and the amended bill where republication of the bill is considered necessary shall be published in the gazette by the Secretary of the Praja Sabha and a copy of the report shall be made available for the use of every member of the Praja Sabha.

President's power to order reprint: If a Select Committee has reported that the bill in their judgment does not require republication, the President, if he considers. that for the purpose of facilitating the discussion of the bill in the Praja Sabha a reprint of the amended bill is required he may direct that the bill as amended by the Select Committed be reprinted and copies of the reprinted bill be supplied to members of the Praja Sabha.
Presentation of the report:

The report of a Select Committee shall be presented to the Praja Sabha by the member-in-charge of the bill.
In presenting the report the member-in-charge shall, if he makes any remarks, confine himself to a brief statement of facts, but there shall be no debate at this stage.

84. Procedure after presentation: (1) After the presentation of the final report of a Select Committee on a bill, the member-in-charge may move:

that the bill as reported by the Select Committee be taken into consideration, provided that any member of the Praja Sabha may object to its being so taken into consideration, if a copy of the report has not been made available for his use for seven days and such objection shall prevail, unless the President, in the exercise of his power to suspend this rule allows the report to be taken into consideration; or
that the bill as reported by the Select Committee he recommitted either:

without limitation; or
with respect to particular clauses or amendments only; or
with instructions to the Select Committee to make some particular or additional provision in the bill.

(2) If the member-in-charge moves that the bill be taken into consideration, any member may move as an amendment that the bill be re-committed.

CHAPTER IX
RESOLUTIONS

Notice of resolutions...A member who proposes to' move a resolution shall give to the Secretary notice in writing of his intention and shall submit together with the notice a copy of such resolution. Provided that a member shall not give notice of more than two resolutions per day of the days assigned for non-official resolutions.
Form and content of resolutions....No resolution shall be admitted unless it complies with the following conditions, namely:

It shall be related to a matter of general public interest which is within the competence of the Council to deal with.
It shall be in the form of a specific recommendation addressed to the Council.
It shall be clearly and precisely expressed and shall raise substantially a definite issue.
It shall not contain arguments, inferences, ironical expressions or defamatory statements, nor shall it refer to the conduct or character of persons except in their official or public capacity.
It shall not relate to any matter which is under adjudication by a court of law.

Admissibility of resolutions....The President shall decide on the admissibility of a resolution. If a resolution does not in his opinion comely with the Act or the rules, he may disallow it or may, give the member an opportunity to amend the form of a resolution to bring it into conformity with the rules. If the defect is of a purely verbal or formal character the President may himself amend the resolution and admit it. The ruling of the President as to whether any resolution complies with the rules or not shall be finch
Intimation to members....The Secretary shall give intimation to the members that the resolution has been admitted or disallowed or allowed as amended by the President as the case may be.
Priority of resolutions on the list of business....The resolutions which have not been disallowed by the President shall be entered in separate lists of each day allotted to non-official resolutions and the priority of resolutions for purpose of discussion shall be determined by a ballot to be held by the Secretary: Provided that no member shall ballot for more than one resolution for one day and not more than seven resolutions shall be entered in the list of resolutions for one day.
Motion and withdrawal of resolutions.... (1) If any member in whose name a resolutions stands on the list of business when called on is absent the resolution shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.

If a member in whose name a resolution stands in the list of bossiness is called on to move it he may with permission of the President authorise any other member in whose name the same resolution stands also in the list of business: for that day, to move it on his behalf and the member so authorised may move accordingly.
When a member moves a resolution he shall commence his speech by a formal motion in the terms appearing on the list of business.

101. Duration of speeches on a resolution except with the permission of the President, shall exceed fifteen minutes in duration:

Provided that the mover of a resolution, when moving the same, and the Minister to whose department the resolution relates, or his Under-Secretary or any official member authorised by Minister to speak on his behalf when speaking for the first time, may speak for thirty minutes, or for such longer time as the President may permit.

The limit of discussion. The discussion of a resolution shall be strictly limited to tile subject of a resolution.
Seconding of resolutions....As soon as a resolution has been moved, it shall be seconded by another member, and no discussion shall be permitted on a resolution which is not so seconded.
Amendments and their notice....After a resolution has been moved, any member may, subject to the rules and standing orders relating to resolutions, move an amendment to the resolution.
Notice of amendments....(l) If notice of such amendment has not been given two clear days before the day of on which the resolution is moved, any member may Object to the moving of the amendment, and such objection shall prevail, unless the President, in the exercise of his power to suspend this rule allow the amendment to be moved.

The Secretary shall, if time permits, cause a copy of every amendment to be made available for the use of every member.

CHAPTER X
FINANCIAL BUSINESS

The Annual Financial Statement....A statement of the estimated annual expenditure and revenue of the State (herein after referred to as the "Annual Financial Statement") shall be presented, each year, to the Praja Sabha on such day as the Prime Minister may appoint.

Note: - The estimated annual expenditure and revenues of the Jagirs of Poonch and Chenani shall be shown separately.

Financial Statement not to be discussed on presentation. There shall be no discussion of the Annual Financial Statement on the day on which it is presented to the Praja Sabha.
Demand for Grant....

A separate demand shall) ordinarily be made in respect of the grant proposed for each department, provided that the Government may in their discretion include in one demand grants proposed for two or more departments, or make a demand in respect of expenditure which cannot readily be classified under particular departments.
Each demand shall contain, first a statement of the total grant proposed, and then a statement of the detailed estimate under each grant divided into items.
Subject to these rules, the annual financial statement shall be presented in such form as the Council may consider best fitted for its consideration by the Praja Sabha.

114. Stages of the debate. . .. The Annual financial statement shall be dealt with by the Praja Sabha in two stages, namely:

(1) a general discussion; and (2) the voting of demands for grants.

General discussion....

On a day to be appointed by the Prime Minister subsequent to the day on which the annual financial statement is presented and for such time as the Prime Minister may allot for this purpose the Praja Sabha shall be at liberty to discuss the statement as a at whole, or any question of principle involved therein, but this stage no motion shall be moved, nor shall the statement be submitted to the vote of the Sabha.
The Minister-in-Charge of the Finance Department of any official member authorised by the Prime Minister shall have a general right of reply at the end of the discussion.
The President may, if he thinks, fit, prescribe a time limit for speeches.

Voting Grants....

The voting of demands for grants shall take place in such order, and on such days not exceeding six days in the aggregate, as the Prime Minister may allot for the purpose.
The Prime Minister shall fix a time limit for the discussion of any one demand or a group of demands. As soon as the maximum limit of time for discussion is reached, the President shall forthwith put every question necessary to dispose of the demand under discussion.
On the last day of the allotted days at 4 p.m. the President shall forthwith put every question necessary to dispose of the demand under discussion and all other outstanding demands for grants.

Motions at this stage...

When a demand for a grant is made motions may be moved to omit or reduce the grant, but not to increase or alter its destination.
When notice of a motion to omit or reduce any grant is given, it shall be accompanied by a brief note explaining the purpose of the motion.
The subject-matter of a motion shall relate only to the particulars contained in the estimates on which the grant is demanded and the purpose for which it is demanded, and shall not touch on the policy or expenditure sanctioned under other heads except so far as such policy or expenditure is brought before the Praja Sabha by the items contained in the grant.
A motion shall be clearly and definitely expressed and shall raise a definite issue.
(a) When several motions relating to the same demand are offered, they shall be discussed hi the order in which the heads to which they relate appear in the annual financial state meet. (b) Motions falling under the same shall head shall be discussed in the order in which notices thereof halve been received by the Secretary:

Provided that the President may in his discretion permit a departure from this sub-rule.

Notice of motions...lf notice of a motion to omit or reduce any grant has not been given four clear days before the day on which the demand is under consideration, any member may object to the moving of the motion and such objection shall prevail unless the President in the exercise of his power allows the motion to be made at shorter notice.
Intimation to Finance Department...When the Praja Sabha has refused its assent to any demand or has assented to any demand subject to a reduction of an amount specified therein the Secretary shall send an intimation of the same to the Finance Department.

CHAPTER X[
STANDING COMMITTEES

124. Appointment of the Standing Committees...Standing Committees may be constituted for all or any of the following departments:

(i) Finance
(ii) Industries
(iii) Public Health
(iv) Education
(v) Agriculture
(vi) Forest; and
(vii) Co-operation.

125. Composition...

1. Every committee so constituted shall consist of the Minister-in-charge of the department concerned and 6 non-official members of the Praja Sabha as the President in consultation with the Prime Minister and leaders of different groups in the Praja Sabha may select.
2. Selection of non-official members...The President shall during the currency of the budget session of the Praja sabha make the section of non-official members for a Standing Committee on receipt of a request to that effect from the Minister-in-charge of the department concerned.
3. The list of non-official members selected by the President shall be put on the Notice-board of the Praja Sabha. Within two days of the list being so put up any non-official members of the Praja Sabha may move a resolution for the removal of any name appearing on the list and the substitution of the name of any other non-official member not appearing on the list.

Chairman...The Minister-in-Charge of the department concerned shall be the Chairman of the Standing Committee.
Proceedings of Standing Committee shall not be disclosed by any member without the leave of the Chairman and no reference to the proceedings shall be made in the Praja Sabha except in so far as they have been disclosed with the leave or under the orders of the Chairman.

Vacancies...The President shall nominate members to fill vacancies as they occur amongst the non-official nonofficial members of the Standing Committees. In making his selection the President shall endeavour to give representation to the group previously represented by the November whose place has to be filled.

Board of Judicial Advisors Procedure Rules

Legal Document No 67

(Extract)

LEAVE TO APPEAL

VIII. An appeal shall be brought either in pursuance of leave obtained from the court appealed from, or, in the absence of such leave, in pursuance of special leave to appeal granted by His Highness upon a petition in this behalf presented by the appellant.

SPECIAL LEAVE TO APPEAL

IX. A petition for special leave to appeal to His Highness shall be filed before the Registrar of the Board. It shall state succinctly and clearly all such facts as it may be necessary to state to enable the Board to advice His Highness whether such leave ought to be granted and shall be signed either by a counsel or by the party himself if he appears in person or by his agent. It shall be accompanied by a copy of the judgment sought to be appealed from and a copy of the judgment (if any) of each of the courts below. The petition shall deal with facts only so far as is necessary for the purpose of explaining and supporting the particular grounds upon which special leave is sought.

ADVICE

LII. The advice recorded by the Board shall indicate, by whom the costs of the proceedings before it and the courts below (if any) shall be paid and who should bear the costs of the reference. It shall not be delivered at or after the hearing and shall be treated as a confidential document till His Highness has passed orders on the same. It shall be handed over to the Registrar of the Board, who shall fore and the same, to the Prime Minister for submission to His Highness.

LIII. When the orders of His Highness have been passed, the Registrar of the Board shall prepare a Decree or a Formal Order in terms of His Highness' Orders. The Decree or formal order besides embodying the orders of His Highness in respect of the subject matter of the proceedings before the Board, shall show how the costs incurred in them are to be borne.

LIV. When a Decree or Formal Order has been prepared as directed in the Rule proceeding, a copy of the advice and the Decree or the Formal Order as the case may be, shall be sent to the High Court, or to the Registrar of the Department from which the reference arose. The original record of the case shall be sent back to the Registrar of the court or department concerned, by the Registrar of the Board.

Pakistan Resolution of the Lahore Session of the all India Muslim League

Legal Document No 68

While approving and endorsing the action taken by the Council and the Working Committee of the All-India Muslim League, as indicated in their resolution dated the27th of August, 17th and 18th September and 22nd of October 1939, and 3rd of February 1940 on the constitutional issue, this Session of the All-India Muslim League emphatically reiterates that the scheme of federation embodied in the Government of India Act, 1935, is totally unsuited to, and unworkable in the peculiar conditions of this country and is altogether unacceptable to Muslim India.

It further records its emphatic view that while the declaration dated the 18th of October 1939 made by the Viceroy on behalf of His Majesty's Government is reassuring in so far as it declares that the policy and plan on which the Government of India Act, 1939 is based will be reconsidered in consultation with the various parties, interests and communities in India, Muslim India will not be satisfied unless the whole constitutional plan is reconsidered de nova and that no revised plan would be acceptable to the Muslims unless it is framed with their approval and consent.

Resolved that it is the considered view of this Session of the All-India Muslim League that no constitutional plan would be workable in this country or acceptable to the Muslims unless it is designed on the following basis principles, viz. that geographically contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be constituted with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary, that the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in a majority as in the North-Western and Eastern and zones of India should be grouped to constitute 'Independent State' in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign.

The adequate, effective and mandatory safeguards should be specifically provided in the Constitution for Minorities in these units and in the regions for the protection of their religious, cultural, economic, political, administrative and other rights and interests in consultation with them and in mother parts of India where the Mussalmans are in a minority adequate, effective and mandatory safeguards shall be specifically provided in the Constitution for them and other Minorities for the protection of their religious, cultural, economics political, administrative and other rights and interests in consultation with them.

Mr. Jinah's Demand for a Seperate Homeland for Muslims

Legal Document No 69

(Extract)

As far as our internal position is concerned, we have also been examining it and, you know, there are several schemes which have been sent by various well-informed constitutionalists and others who take. interest in the problems of India's future Constitution and we have also appointed a sub-committee to examine the details of the schemes that have come in so far. But one thing is quite clear. It has always been taken for granted mistakenly that the Mussulmans are a Minority and of course we have got used to it for such long time that these setlled notions sometimes are very difficult to remove. The Mussulmans are not a Minority. The Mussulmans are a nation by any definition. The British and particularly the Congress proceed on the basis, well, you are a Minority after all what do you want ? What elso do the minorities want ? Just as Babu Rajendra Prasad said. But surely the Mussulmans are not a Minority. We find that even according to the British map of India we occupy large parts of this country, where We Mussalmans are in a majority such as Bengal, the Punjab, Northwest Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan.

The problem in India is not of an inter-communal character but manifestly of an international one, and it must be treated as such. So long as this basic and fundamental truth is not realized, any Constitution that may be built will result in disaster and will prove destructive and harmful not only to the Mussulmans but to the British and Hindus also. If the British Government are really in earnest and sincere peace and happiness of the people of this sub-continent, the only course open to us all is to allow the major nations separate homelands by dividing India into "autonomous national states." There is no reason why these states should be antegonistic to secure to each other. On the other hand the rivalry and the natural desire and efforts on the part of one to dominate the social order and establish political supremacy over the other in the of the country will disappear. It will lead more towards natural good will by international pacts between them, and they can live in complete harmony with their neighbours This will lead further to a friendly settlement all the more easily with regard to Minorities by reciprocal arrangements and adjustments between Muslim India and Hindu India, which will far more adequately and affectively safeguard tile rights and interests of Muslims and various ether Minorities.

It is extremely difficult to appreciate why our Hindu friends fad! to understand the real nature of Islam and Hinduism. They are not religions in the strict sense of the word, but are. in fact, different and distinct social orders, and it is a dream that the Hindu and Muslims can ever evolve a common nationality and this misconception of one Indian nation lies gone far beyond the limits and is the cause of most of your troubles and will lead India to destruction if we fail to revise our notions in time. The Hindus and Muslims belong to too different religious philosophies, social customs, literatures. They neither inter-marry nor inter-dine together and, indeed, they belong to two different civilizations which are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions. Their concepts on life and of life are deferent.. It is quite clear that Hindus and Mussulmans derive their inspiration from different sources of history. They have different epics, different heroes, and different episodes. Very often the hero of one is a foe of the other and, likewise, their victory and defeats overlap. To yoke together two such nations under a single State, one as a numerical minority and the other as a majority, must lead to growing discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may be so built up for the government of such a state.

Muslims of India cannot accept any Constitution which must necessarily result in a Hindu Majority Government. Hindus and Muslims brought together under a democratic System forced upon the Minorities can only mean Hindu Raj. Democracy of the kind with which tile Congress High Command is enamoured would mean the complete destruction of what is most precious in Islam. We have had ample experiences of the working of the Provincial Constitutions during the last two and a half years and any repetition of such a Government must lead to civil war and raising of private armies as recommended by Mr. Gandhi to Hindus of Sukhur when he said that they must defend themselves violently or non-violently, blow for blow, and if they could not, they must emigrate.

Mussulmans are not a Minority as it is commonly known and understood. One has only got to look round. Even today, according to the British map of India, 4 out of It Provinces, where the Muslims dominate more or less are functioning notwithstanding the decision of the Hindu Congress High Command to non-cooperate and prepare for civil disobedience. Mussulmans are a nation according to any definition of a nation, and they must have their homelands, their territory and their State. We wish to live in peace and harmony with our neighbours as a free and independent people. We wish our people to develop to the fullest our spiritiual, cultural, economic, social and political life in a way that we think best and in consonance with our own ideals and according to the genius of our people. Honesty demands and the vital interests of millions of our people impose a sacred duty upon us to find an honourable and peaceful solution, which would be just and fair to all. But at the same time we cannot be moved or diverted from our purpose and objective by threats or intimidations. We must be prepared to face all difficulties and consequences, make all the sacrifices that may be required of us to achieve the goal we have set in front of us.

Broadcast of Sir Stafford Cripps, Delhi

Legal Document No 70

(Extract)

First of all you will want to know what object we had in view. Well, wewanted to make it quite clear and beyond any possibility of doubt or question that the British Government and the British people desire the Indian peoples to have full self-government, with a Constitution as free in every respect as our own in Great Britain or as of any of the great Dominion members of the British Commonwealth of Nations in the words of the Draft Declaration, India would be associated with the United Kingdom and other Dominions by a common allegiance to the Crown but equal to them in every respect, in no way subordinate in any aspect of its domestic or external affairs.

The principle on which these proposals are based is that the new Constitution should be framed by the elected representatives of the Indian people themselves. So we propose that immediately hostilities are ended, a constitution-making body should be set up consisting of elected representative from British India and if the Indian States wish, as we hope they will to become part of the new Indian Union, they too will be invited to send their representatives to this constitution-making body, though, if they do, that will not, of itself, bind them to become members of the Union. That is the broad outline of the future.

There are those who claim that India should form a sidle united country: there are others who say it should be divided up into two, three or more separate countries. There are those who claim that provincial autonomy should be very wide with but few centrally controlled federal services; other stress the need for centralization in view of the growing complexity of economic development.

These and many other and various ideas are worthy to be explored and debated, but it is for the Indian peoples, and not for any outside authority, to decide under which of these forms India will in future govern herself.

So we provide the means and the lead by which you can attain that form of the absolute and united self-government that you desire at the earliest possible moment. In the past we have waited for the different Indian communities to come: to a common decision as to how a new Constitution for a self-governing India should be framed and, because there has been no agreement amongst the Indian leaders, the British Government has been accused by some of using this fact to delay the granting of freedom to India. We are now giving the lead that has been asked for and it is in the hands of Indians and Indians only, whether they will accept that lead and so attain their own freedom. If they fail to accept this opportunity the responsibility for the failure must rest faith them.

Statement of Maharaja Hari Singh on Cripps Mission

Legal Document No 71

(Extract)

We have yet to know the conclusions at which His His Majesty's Government has unanimously arrived under the combined stress of British India's well-known demands and the requirements of the war situation to satisfy the legitimate aspirations of interests.

On the part of the States, a considerable factor in the Indian policy and an important party to be satisfied, there has been a tendency even within recent weeks to give prominence to the credo of 'Relations to the Crown'. These relations have so far been maintained through and Directed by a Department set up by the will of the Crown, the policy and practice of the Department being determined by the Crown's functionaries. Logically therefore it would seem that the Princes cannot object to having dealings with a Central Government of India which the Crown nay constitute. Nor have they any reason to assume that they would not get a square deal from such a Government.

In any case, it is the duty of the Princes to show themselves the equals of nationals anywhere in the world.

The Princes are justified in assuming that, in a Self-Governing India, every autonomous unit will share equally the fiscal and financial advantage accusing in such an India as well as the responsibilities and burdens entailed by the maintenance of peace and order and the provision of beneficent service and public utilities in the territories administered. And it should not be forgotten that these territories may have problems peculiar to their populations as well as to their physical conditions. .

In the India of tomorrow, such of the Princes' prerogatives as enable them to afford a better life to their subjects and to ameliorate their lot must remain. Other privileges, which may be merely matters of honour and glory, shedding effulgence on their personalities, are of comparatively small account when set beside other considerations such as the safe-guarding of resources necessary for up-to-date Government and the relief of burdens borne by the State alone.

In promising to support the proposals brought by Sir Stafford Cripps, the Chamber of Princes added the proviso that the support should be without prejudice to the right of individual States to lay their case before him and general, without prejudice to the inherent rights of the States. These rights it is not easy to define or catalogue when one considers the effect of the political practice inaugurated in 1860 and since maintained with the aid of 'usage and sufferance'. In any cased there is a piquant irony in the contrast between the Princes' reiteration the phrase-'Treaty Rights' and the Viceroy's suggestion that all Princes, for certain purposes, should voluntarily abdicate in favour of the Political Officers accredited to their courts.

When at the Round Table Conference the Princes assented to the working out of a Federal Constitution, they were prepared voluntarily to delegate some of their sovereign powers to a Federal Government. In the India of the future, it is possible that the matters committed to the Central Government would be far fewer than those recited in the Table of Federal Matters appended to the Act of 1935.

Unless, therefore, the proposals entrusted in Sir Stafford Cripps are fundamentally adverse to the interests of the Indian States and this is unthinkable there is no reason why there" should not be ample common ground between the States and the rest of India.

Freedom must be our watchword...freedom from crippling restrictions and strangling control, freedom front the subordination of India's interests to the interests of other parts of the Commonwealth.

Resolution of the Working Committee of the Indian National Congress

Legal Document No 72

The people of India have, as a whole, clearly demanded full independence, and Congress has repeatedly declared that no other status except that of independence for the whole of India could be agreed to or could meet the essential requirements of the present situation.

The Committee recognize that future independence may be implicit in the proposals, but the accompanying provisions and restrictions are such that real freedom may well become an illusion.

The complete ignoring of ninety millions of people in the Indian States, and their treatment as commodities at the disposal of their rulers, is a negation both of democracy and self-determination. While the representation of an Indian State in the constitution-making body is fixed on a population basis the people of the State have no voice in choosing those representatives, nor are they to be consulted at any stage while decisions vitally affecting them are being taken. Such States may- in many ways become barriers to the growth of Indian freedom, enclaves where foreign authority still prevails, and where the possibility of maintaining foreign-armed forces has been stated to be a likely contingency and a perpetual menace to the freedom of the people of the States as well as of the rest of India.

Resolution of the Working Committee of the All India Muslim League

Legal Document No 73

The Committee, while expressing their gratification that the possibility of Pakistan is recognized by implication by providing for the establishment of two or more independent Unions in India regret that the proposals of His Majesty's Government embodying the fundamentals are not open to any modification and therefore no alternative proposals are invited. In view of the rigidity of the attitude of His Majesty's Government with regard to fundamentals not being open to any modification, the Committee have no alternative but to say that the proposals hi their present form are unacceptable to them for the following reasons:

The machinery which has been proposed for the creation of the constitution-making body, namely, that it will consist of members elected by the newly elected Lower Houses of the eleven Provinces upon the cessation of hostilities, as a single electoral college by the system of proportional representation, is a fundamental departure from the right of the Mussulmans hitherto enjoyed by them, to elect their representatives by means of separate electorates, which is the only sure way in which true representatives of the Mussulmans can be chosen.

The constitution-making body will take decisions by a bare majority on all questions of the most vital and paramount character involved in the framing of the Constitution, which is a departure from the fundamental principles of justice and contrary to constitutional practice so far followed in the various countries and Dominions; and the Mussulmans by agreeing to this will, instead of exercising their right and judgment as a constituent factor, be at the entire mercy of the constitution-making body in which they will be a minority of about 25 per cent.

The Mussulmans, after 95 years of genuine efforts for the reconciliation of the two major communities and the bitter experience of the failure of such efforts, are convinced that it is neither just nor possible, in the interests of peace and happiness of the two peoples, to compel them to constitute one Indian Union composed of the two principal nations - Hindus and Muslims, but this appears to be the main object of His Majesty's Government as adumbrated in the preamble of the Draft Declaration, the creation of more than one Union being relegated only to the real of remote possibility, and is purely illusory.
In the Draft Declaration a constitution making body has been proposed with the primary object of creating one Indian Union. So far as the Muslim League is concerned, it has finally decided that the only solution of India's constitutional problem is the partition of India into independent zones: and it will therefore be unfair to the Muslims to compel them to enter such a constitution-making body whose main object is the creation of a new Indian Union. With conditions as they are it will be not only futile but on the contrary may exacerbate bitterness and animosity amongst the various elements in the country.
The right of non-accession to the Union as contemplated in the Draft Declaration has been conceded presumably in response to the insistent demands by the Mussulmans for the partition of India; but the method and procedure laid down are such as to negative the professed object; for in the draft proposals the right of non-accession has been given to the existing Provinces which have been formed from time to time for administrative convenience and on no logical basis. The Mussulmans cannot be satisfied by such a Declaration on a vital question affecting their future destiny, and demand a clear and precise pronouncement on the subject. Any attempt to solve the future problem of India by the process of evading the real issue is to court disaster.
With regard to the Indian States, it is the considered opinion of the Committee that it is a matter for them to decide whether to join or not to join or form a Union.
With regard to the treaties to be negotiated between the Crown and the Indian Union or Unions, the proposals do not indicate as to what would happen in case of disagreement in the terms between the contracting parties; nor is there any provisions made as to what would be the procedure when there is a differences of opinion in negotiating a revision of treaty arrangements with the Indian States in the new situation.

With regard to the interim arrangement there is no definite proposal except the bare statement that His Majesty's Government desire and invite the effective and immediate participation of the leaders of the principal sections of the Indian people in the counsels of their country of the Commonwealth, and of the [United Nations. The Committee are therefore unable to express their opinion until a complete picture is available. Another reason why the Committee unable to express their opinion on the interim arrangements for participation in the counsels of the country is that Sir Stafford Cripps has made it clear that the scheme goes through as a whole or is rejected as a whole and that it would not be possible to retain the part relating to the immediate arrangements at the Centre and discard the rest of the draft scheme: and as the Committee has come to the conclusion that the proposals for the future are unacceptable, it will serve no useful purpose to deal further with the question of the immediate arrangements.

Resolution on the 'Unity of India' passed by the All India Congress Committee

Legal Document No 74

The All-India Congress Committee is of opinion that any proposal to disintegrate India by giving liberty to any component state of territorial unit to secede from the Indian Union or Federation will be highly detrimental to the best interests. of the people of the different States and Provinces and the country as a whole and the Congress, therefore, cannot agree to any such proposal.

Cripps Mission from the Marquess of Linlithgow to Mr. Amery

Legal Document No 75

(Extract)

First of all for a word about the States. I fear that Cripps' comment on the paramountcy issue is of a piece with certain other not very carefully considered statements which he made (so far I can see without any authority from the Cabinet and certainly without consultation with me); and we shall have to regard our hands as free in regard to this, for the issue is one of fundamental importance. I am myself quite unconvinced by Cripps' arguments, but, apart from that, this is not the sort of major issue which can properly be given away by any individual Cabinet Minister, or even by the Cabinet as a whole without a very close investigation. You may be perfect!; certain that you are right in thinking that few, if any, of the Princes, even at the price of escaping from paramountcy, would dream of coming into a union in which their domestic affairs would be subject to control or interference by an Indian Government more particularly an Indian Government to which as you say. 'local agitators in their States" would have pretty easy access.

I am not much impressed either by the suggestion that the States might form a federation or dominion of their own and I doubt if Congress or the Muslim League would take any such proposal too seriously. It is a good debating suggestion but I would not treat it more seriously than that, and the practical difficulties presented by the existence of these minor States and the problem of adjusting relations between a "State Dominion", a Dominion of British India, and such units as might elect, whether in British India or in the States to remain outside either dominion would be not a very easy one.

QUICK VIEWS

Artistes

Krishen Langoo

Born in Badiyar Bala, Srinagar, Shri Krishen Langoo, son of Late Pandit Tika Lal Langoo is a well known music director from Kashmir. Trained in the folk/traditional music of Kashmir, Shri Langoo has performed widely within the state and outside in many prestigious festivals.

Pushkar Bhan

It would be hard to find a person of Kashmiri origin who is not familiar with the name of Pushkar Bhan. For Kashmiris in Kashmir,

Kiran Kumar

A personality in his own right, this son of the famous villain of his time Jeevan, Kiran Kumar is a man of courage and bag full of confidence

Jeevan

Remembered today as the sinister villain with a face only a mother could love, Jeevan was one of the top bad guys of 60s, 70s, and 80s Bollywood cinema

Anupam Kher

Anupam Kher (born June 17, 1945) is an actor in Hindi films in India. He has acted in nearly 200 Hindi films.

Makhan Lal Saraf

A Radio & TV Artiste.

Rahul Bhat

Rahul Bhat, more popular as Sameer of television serial Heena, claims of having rejected over 70 serials for the fear of being over exposed.

Ashwath Bhatt

Promising actor has done wonderful performances throughout London after he shifted there from NSD New Delhi completing his course in acting.
Playwrights

Moti Lal Kemmu

Moti Lal Kemmu, noted playwright is a master of his craft. He has done renaissance work in the restoration of Kashmir vanishing folk theatre form, Bhand Paather. For nearly three decades he made strong efforts to give it a distinct identity, acceptability and respectability.

M. K. Raina

M. K. Raina graduated from National School of Drama in 1970 with Best actor award. Since 1972 he has been freelance theatre worker and film person, working all over India in many languages and with many traditional forms.

Pushkar Bhan

It would be hard to find a person of Kashmiri origin who is not familiar with the name of Pushkar Bhan. For Kashmiris in Kashmir, and all around the world, the genres of Humor-Laughter-Entertainment and Pushkar Bhan name have become synonymous.

Moti Lal Saqi

Poet, writer, dramatist, scholar, researcher, encyclopaedist, specialist in Kashmir,s cultural and literary heritage, authority on the Valley Rishi tradition - all rolled into one.

Ashok Pandit

Ashok Pandit shot into prominence with Filmi Chakkar - one of the more successful comedies on satellite TV. Soon after he made Tere Mere Sapne, a serial that depicted the story of a joint family set in today milieu.

Jyoti Sarup

Jyoti is a Director of TV serials and Feature Films for 11 years and was Vice President, at SONY Entertainment Television. He has recently got the National Award for his Feature Film BUB (Kashmiri).

Bansi Lal Nirdosh

A tribute
Poets

Lal Ded

Kashmir has produced many saints, poets and mystics. Among them, Lal Ded is very prominent. In Kashmir, some people consider her a poet, some consider her a holywoman and some consider her a sufi, a yogi, or a devotee of Shiva.

Swami Govind Kaul

The son of Swami Aftab Kaul and Vishvamalya, born in Dattataraya Gotra, Gobind Kaul naturally followed the tradition of his forefathers and became an ardent Shaivite. To his elder brother Harishwara and to his Guru Bharatlal he owed his proficiency in the Sastras andyoga.

Krishnajoo Razdan

Razdan Sahib is proud of Kashmiri language which is the principal medium of his poetic expression. He regards it dearest to the Mother Goddess. He is convinced that salvation for Kashmiris is attainable only by singing praises of the Mother Goddess in Kashmiri language.

Zinda Koul Masterji

Masterji built his personality brick by brick. The foundation for this was provided. by the Hindu mystic lore especially by the Kashmir Shaivism.

Dina Nath Nadim

His poetry has contributed to Kashmir struggle for freedom. Nadim also wrote the first opera in the Kashmiri language, entitled, bombir ti yembirzal The Bumblebee and the Narcissus. Nadim has greatly influenced the young Kashmiri poets of today.

Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor

Mahjoor has a place of honor among the poets of Kashmir. He is especially noted for two things. He introduced a new style into Kashmiri poetry.

Documents 51 through 75

Legal Documents 51-75

Report of the Franchise Committee

Report of the Franchise Committee 1933

Legal Document No 51

Constitution Act

Legal Document No 52

Jammu and Kashmir Praja Sabha Election Rules

Legal Document No 53

Order to Convene the first Session of the Praja Sabha No 57

Legal Document No 54

Vernacular names for the Ministers order No. 99

Legal Document No 55

Appointment of Ministers to Praja Sabha order No. 132

Legal Document No 56

Appointment of official Members to Praja Sabha order No. 133

Legal Document No 57

Inaugural Address of the Maharaja to the Praja Sabha

Legal Document No 58

Resolution of the Working Committee of the Indian National Congress

Legal Document No 59

Presidential Address of Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah, Muslim Conference

Legal Document No 60

Resolution of the Working Committee Muslim Conference

Legal Document No 61

National Demand

Legal Document No 62

Resolution State's People's Conference, Ludhiana Session, 1939 on the treaties of Indian Princes with the Paramount Power

Legal Document No 63

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's remarks in treaty rights of Princes in his Presidential Address at Ludhiana Session

Legal Document No 64

Jammu and Kashmir Constitution Act

Legal Document No 65

Jammu and Kashmir Praja Sabha Rules of Business and Procedure,1939

Legal Document No 66

Board of Judicial Advisors Procedure Rules

Legal Document No 67

Pakistan Resolution of the Lahore Session of the all India Muslim League

Legal Document No 68

Mr. Jinah's Demand for a Seperate Homeland for Muslims

Legal Document No 69

Broadcast of Sir Stafford Cripps, Delhi

Legal Document No 70

Statement of Maharaja Hari Singh on Cripps Mission

Legal Document No 71

Resolution of the Working Committee of the Indian National Congress

Legal Document No 72

Resolution of the Working Committee of the All India Muslim League

Legal Document No 73

Resolution on the 'Unity of India' passed by the All India Congress Committee

Legal Document No 74

Cripps Mission from the Marquess of Linlithgow to Mr. Amery

Legal Document No 75

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Report of the Franchise Committee
1933