No: 38 Dated: Dec, 20 2023

Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Second Amendment Act 2023

An Act further to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Seventy-fourth Year of the Republic of India as follows:––

1. (1) This Act may be called the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Second Amendment) Act, 2023.

(2) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

2. In the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, after section 14, the following sections shall be inserted, namely:—

   “14A. (1) Seats shall be reserved for women in the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

   (2) As nearly as may be, one-third of the seats reserved under sub-section (7) of section 14 shall be reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

   (3) As nearly as may be, one-third of the total number of seats to be filled by direct election to the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (including the number of seats reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes) shall be reserved for women in such manner as Parliament may by law determine.

14B. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the provisions of this Act, the provisions relating to reservation of seats for women in the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir shall come into effect after an exercise of delimitation is undertaken for this purpose after the relevant figures for the first census taken after the commencement of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Second Amendment) Act, 2023 have been published and shall cease to have effect on the expiration of a period of fifteen years from such commencement.

(2) Subject to the provisions of section 14A, seats reserved for women in the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir shall continue till such date as Parliament may by law determine.

(3) Rotation of seats reserved for women in the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir shall take effect after such subsequent exercise of delimitation as Parliament may by law determine.

(4) Nothing in section 14A shall affect any representation in the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir until the dissolution of the then existing Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.”