3 min readApr 1, 2026 03:04 PM IST
First published on: Apr 1, 2026 at 03:04 PM IST
Legislators from both the treasury and opposition benches expressed concern over the absence of bureaucrats during question hour in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.
The issue was first raised by National Conference MLA Nazir Gurezi, who pointed towards the officers’ gallery and said that bureaucrats were taking the House lightly.
“You look towards the gallery, this House is being taken lightly,” he said, adding, “I have been a member of this House for 22 years, and this gallery used to be packed.” Earlier, the Chief Secretary and Commissioner Secretaries used to remain present, taking note of the points concerning their respective departments that were raised in the House, he said.
“They think that idle people are sitting here,” Gurezi said, appealing to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to initiate action against the bureaucrats. “They should come to the House,” he said, adding that the CM should issue them a notice. “Do they think they are above the CM and the House? What do they think of themselves? They are government servants, while we are public representatives,” he said.
Joining the issue, all BJP legislators stood in protest against the absence of bureaucrats. Other MLAs on the treasury and opposition benches, including those from the NC, Congress, PDP and Independents, also stood up in protest.
BJP’s Sham Lal Sharma, referring to the rulebook governing the conduct of business in the Legislative Assembly, said it mandates the presence of the administrative secretaries of the departments whose questions are to be taken up by members. He suggested that the Speaker defer the business of any department whose officers are found absent from the gallery.
Pawan Gupta, another BJP MLA, questioned the absence of bureaucrats. “The executive is responsible to the legislature,” he pointed out, asking, “Why are they not coming to the House…why are they absent?”
In an interview with The Indian Express in October last year, Abdullah had spoken about the challenge of managing governance without full control over the bureaucracy. “It really depends on the mindset of officials. Some use it to their advantage by playing the Raj Bhawan against the elected government and vice versa. Some unfortunately get stuck in the middle… I honestly don’t envy (them). This brings me back to the point that this is a truly inefficient way of working… Can you imagine if somebody told the Honourable PM that you run India, but you won’t decide who your Cabinet Secretary, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, or other officers are?”
BJP's Sham Lal Sharma, referring to the rulebook governing the conduct of business in the Legislative Assembly, said it mandates the presence of the administrative secretaries of the departments whose questions are to be taken up by members. 
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