Srinagar, May 27: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today appointed a committee headed by economist Haseeb Drabu to examine the interim report of State Finance Commission. Sayeed appointed the appraisal committee after discussing the recommendations of the interim report presented by chairman of State Finance Commission A M Lanker. Drabu, who is economic advisor to the state government, was asked to examine the recommendations as a follow up. The Chief Minister broadly discussed the functioning of local bodies in the context of recommendations of the commission and underlined the need for upgrading the public services and mobilisation of resources by the urban local bodies.

Devolution of taxes to urban local bodies, imposition of property tax and user charges were among the issues discussed and Sayeed stressed on reasonable and generally acceptable size of taxes to improve resource position of these bodies.


The Chief Minister called for making local bodies democratic by holding elections and emphasised the need for improving their functioning and resource position before the polls were held.

It may be recalled that government had constituted State Finance Commission to deliberate upon and make recommendations on specific issues related to urban and rural local bodies.
Bureau Report