Onlykashmir.in News Desk
The Committee on Ethics of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly convened in Srinagar under the chairmanship of MLA Nizam-ud-Din Bhat to initiate deliberations on a foundational framework aimed at strengthening public confidence in the legislature and its members. The meeting was attended by legislators Salman Sagar, Peerzada Feroze, Kuldeep Raj Dubey, Satish Kumar, Surinder Kumar and Arvind Gupta, along with senior officers from the Assembly Secretariat.
Acknowledging the contemporary challenges facing legislative institutions across the country, committee members unanimously stressed the need for upholding stringent ethical standards and core values to guide the public conduct of elected representatives. Following extensive discussion, the panel resolved to formulate a comprehensive Code of Conduct that would serve as an institutional guide for members of the Assembly going forward.
Recognising the significance of ethical grounding in public life, the committee also decided to organise a dedicated orientation programme for all members of the Legislative Assembly. As part of this initiative, the panel will undertake a comparative study of the operational frameworks followed by ethics committees in other state legislatures, as well as those functioning within the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. To draw on established best practices, members underlined the importance of conducting study tours to observe the practical functioning of similar institutional mechanisms outside the Union Territory.
In a further step toward institutionalising evolving ethical standards, the committee resolved to broaden its scope of engagement beyond the Assembly itself. Members proposed expanding outreach to external academic and civic institutions, including universities, with the aim of gathering diverse perspectives on public expectations and defining contemporary benchmarks for the conduct of elected representatives, both within and outside the House.
The move comes at a time when legislative bodies across India have increasingly turned their attention toward strengthening internal accountability mechanisms, amid growing public scrutiny of the conduct of elected representatives. Officials familiar with the committee’s proceedings said the proposed Code of Conduct, once finalised, is expected to set clearer standards of accountability for J&K’s legislators while aligning the Assembly’s ethical framework with practices followed in other parts of the country. Further sittings of the committee are expected in the coming weeks as members work toward finalising the orientation module and initiating the proposed outreach to academic institutions.
