J&K DDC members miffed after govt places them at bottom of precedence list

The chairpersons and members of the recently-elected DDCs in Jammu and Kashmir are not happy with the new warrant of precedence that places them at ranks much below their expectations.

Several members of the newly-elected District Development Councils (DDCs) in Jammu and Kashmir staged a protest in the Union Territory’s winter capital Jammu on Tuesday. They were protesting against the new warrant of precedence that puts them at the bottom. According to the new order of precedence, issued by the J&K administration on Monday, the DDC chairpersons have been placed equivalent to administrative secretaries and IGPs. And, the DDC members have been placed equivalent to district magistrates, block development council chairpersons, presidents of municipal councils and municipalities, etc. “We are not here for protocol but you have to understand if we don’t have enough authority how can we do people’s work. This was the first major political outreach that the government had made after 2019 and there were expectations of the people attached with it,” Safeena Beigh, DDC chairperson Baramulla, said.