The Bill seeks to merge the J&K cadre with the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre of All India Services

The Lok Sabha on Saturday passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which merges the J&K cadre of Indian Administration Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), and Indian Foreign Service (IFS) with the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre.

The legislation, which will replace the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 promulgated earlier this year, seeks to address the shortage of officers in the J&K cadre which was affecting the implementation of development schemes.

According to the Bill, "all future allocations of All India Services Officers for the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union territory of Ladakh shall be made to Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union territories cadre for which necessary modifications may be made in corresponding cadre allocation rules by the Central Government".

Explaining the need to bring about this change, the Bill states that there is a huge deficiency of the officers of All India
Services in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and development schemes, centrally sponsored schemes and other allied activities suffer due to this.

Merging the J&K cadre with AGMUT would mean that officers from a larger pool would be available for posting in Jammu and Kashmir and this would address the deficiency to some extent.

This would also provide uniformity in the governance of all the Union territories and will further enhance efficiency in their administration, the Bill said.

The legislation was earlier passed by the Rajya Sabha on February 8.