The chairperson of Budgam District Development Council Nazir Ahmad Khan has landed in a soup following alleged irregularities in the appointment of Biodiversity Management Committee.
A resolution, a copy of which has been sent to DC Budgam Shahbaz Mirza, passed by 13 members of the DDC, alleges that Khan has formed the biodiversity committee with an environmentalist as its chairman without their consent.
Terming the biodiversity committee as “illegal”, the DDC members have sought action against Khan in their letter to DC Budgam.
“The post is on the Facebook handle of the DDC Chairperson Budgam, posted around 11 am on July 23, 2022. The news came as a shocker as the decision was solely taken by the DDC Chairperson …for his vested interests without involving any DDC Member in the process of formation of the Biodiversity management committee,” the resolution states.
The 13 DDC members have said in their resolution that none of them was taken on board before the formation of the committee and no meeting has taken place to elect the DDC members for the committee.
According to the Biodiversity Act 2002, the Biodiversity Management Committee is constituted under sub-rule (1) and it consists of chairperson and not more than six persons nominated by the local body. Among the six DDC members, one third should be women, as per law, and not less than 18 percent should belong to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes.
The chairperson of the committee is elected from amongst the members of the committee in the meeting to be chaired by the chairperson of the local body, the resolution states.
“The move thus is shady, undemocratic, unethical, and fraudulent and calls for a disciplinary action against the DDC Chairperson Budgam Nazir Ahmed Khan and the members and chairperson of the illegally formed Biodiversity Management Committee of Budgam,” the resolution reads.
The DDC members have sought fresh election through open ballot for the post of the committee’s chairman. Khan could not be reached for his comments on the issue.