Srinagar: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Friday defended his recent order of transferring 48 Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service (JKAS) officials, saying he knows his limits and would never cross them.
Sinha made the remarks at a media event in Delhi on a day Chief Minister Omar Abdullah chaired a legislature party meeting here of his National Conference and its allies, including the Congress.
The meeting passed two resolutions, one of which called for all to respect people’s mandate, in an apparent disapproval of the Raj Bhavan issuing the transfer and posting orders.
In a short video clip from his News18 event, the Lt Governor says, “I would like to make it clear that the J&K Reorganisation Act was passed by the Parliament in 2019. And I am saying with great responsibility that I have not done anything outside this Act.
“I am well within my domain and I will never do anything outside of that. I know my limits and I will never cross those limits,” he says in the clip, which has been widely circulated on social media.
Expressing his strong disapproval of the transfer order, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, LG Sinha and Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, asserting these orders were issued without any “lawful authority” and undermine the authority of the elected government.
According to sources, Abdullah has said the transfer of JKAS officers to cadre posts falls squarely within the elected government’s purview.
The chief minister has been also pressing for the finalisation of the Transaction of Business Rules, which were approved by the cabinet on March 6, and wrote the delay in issuing these rules is contributing to the current administrative friction.
In his letter to Sinha, Abdullah asked him to review the “unilateral” decision, saying such orders undermine the functioning and authority of the elected government.
LG defends transfers: ‘I Know My Domain, Have Done Nothing Outside It’
