Chief minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday withdrew two bills proposing an increase in salaries and allowances of ministers and members of the Jammu and Kashmir legislature after objections from the BJP, the principal opposition party.
“I was never in favour of it. Ask my MLAs. I would repeatedly suggest to them against this. If a single member opposes, it will never pass.
Responding to the objections, the chief minister said the House committee that had recommended the proposed hike had not recorded any dissenting note. He also said that BJP members were privately seeking an increase in salaries and allowances, while attempting to politicise the issue by citing problems faced by daily wagers. But there was pressure from both sides,” he said. “But I told them that this will be done only when the whole House is ready for this. Now that the opposition is doing politics on this, I withdraw the bill,” Omar said.
The bills passed include the Jammu and Kashmir Municipal (Amendment) Bill, 2026, Ease of Doing Business Bill, 2026. The J&K Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2026, seeking amendments to the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, was also passed. The House subsequently approved the withdrawal of the bills by majority vote. The assembly passed five bills moved by the chief minister covering municipal governance, ease of doing business and ease of living, taxation, legislative members’ pension, and rationalisation and decriminalisation of offences. The latter seeks to replace permission-based controls with rule-based governance and enable citizens and enterprises to plan, invest and work.
