state laws that had constituted government commissions. Photograph by Umer Asif reased financial costs ue. “This has created I has ended and that ay,” he said. “How will more.” said. “Corruption is D-19 is not available ll as JK, they have to it.” ssal Commission— forums under the dissolved. The comepartment of Food, alises in consumer d the better-staffed he cases would now of initiating a comg to the decade old ts increased for the nce system but also oad of cases. m helpless and their te the dissolution of and lawyers continmission’s head at the lls/complaints from eart wrenching that osed and those who are already distressed, being victims of violence lose hope to get justice. [I] try to provide respite whichever way possible in my individual capacity.” An order for closing the commission reached her office on 23 October directing the commission to “hand over the files, documents, and everything with regards to the working to the administrative department, in our case it was the Social Welfare Department,” said Ms. Masoodi. The commission, she said, was dissolved at a time when “some of the cases were just pending disposal, only on the next date of hearing we were to pass judgements or an order and in some cases we were just nearing the closure.” Many of these commissions had remained side-lined and ignored by successive state governments for years, including the State Women’s Commission. Now, nearly a year after the Reorganisation Act was unilaterally passed by the parliament to undo what the Bharatiya Janata Party had called injustices to the erstwhile state, there seems to be little hope for the public to redress its grievances. The Reorganisation Act, however, had certain which could have ensured the continuation of the commission because of the applicability of national laws from 31 October—the day J-K’s special status under Article 370 ceased to exist, said Ms. Masoodi, a lawyer by profession. Simultaneously on 31 October, the President of India signed the Removal of Difficulties order that gave continuity to all the statutory bodies in J-K, pointed out Ms. Masoodi. “Meaning thereby it superseded the order of closure by the [UT administration],” she said. “Because the order was signed by the President of India. It goes without saying that it has an overriding effect on it [closure order].” Section 17 of the order states that: “Any authority constituted under any law in the existing State of Jammu and Kashmir immediately in force before the appointed day shall be deemed to have been constituted under the corresponding provisions of the Central laws applicable to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh, until a new authority is constituted under the law applicable to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir or the Union Territory of Ladakh, as the case may be, and any proceedings initiated or action taken by such authority, shall for all purposes be deemed to be valid and operative.” Following the order, Ms Masoodi said that “hopes were amplified that the commission will be back soon and people will not have to suffer” but still, the J-K administration has to follow certain procedures to reconstitute the Commission. However, for unspecified reasons the administration in J-K decided not to go ahead with re-establishing the dissolved commissions. Further, in May 2020, the administration also wound up the State Vigilance Commission. Ms. Masoodi said that other union territories had made their own enactments to establish local commissions. “You cannot ensure the applicability of the National Commission for Women Act of India if the local level dispensation is not there,” she said, pointing out that the union territory of Puducherry, the only other union territory in India with an elected legislature, and Lakshadweep with a population of 50,000 had their own Women’s Commissions. “It is not because the NCW Act is applicable in JK that we do not need a body, it is a poor interpretation of it [the law]. Rather, the NCW act can only be made applicable in J&K if there is a local mechanism like the one we had” Recently, Ms. Masoodi said that she had approached the district administration in Srinagar after coming across news reports on the plight of a bed ridden girl abandoned in a Srinagar hospital. “I was flabbergasted with the response from certain quarters including some NGOs that I expected help from,” she said, adding that officials of the administration had later responded. “Once you are in chair you have the authority to give and get your orders implemented. Once you are not there, people [officials] don’t feel responsible enough to revert even if it is for a mere social cause. This is precisely why the gulf has been created between the public and the administration.” “We don’t need to invoke Newton’s law to understand what is going on in Kashmir,” said Ms. Masoodi. “It is a gulf between the system and the people which is the basic bone of contention and has blown out haywire.”
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