SRINAGAR, Sept 24: Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather on Thursday pulled up Transport Minister Satish Sharma over the continued use of multiple government vehicles by officers, questioning the delay in introducing a uniform “one officer-one vehicle” policy.
The issue came up during Question Hour after BJP MLA Ranbir Singh Pathania asked whether the Government proposed to enforce a ceiling of one official vehicle per officer across all departments.
In a written reply, Transport Minister Satish Sharma said there was currently no specific policy prescribing a uniform ceiling for allotment or retention of official vehicles by individual officers across departments, PSUs, boards and autonomous bodies.
The Government said a revised car policy was under consideration and proposed to introduce the principle of “one vehicle-one officer”. However, exceptions would be allowed on the basis of security requirements, field duties, additional assignments or charges, operational exigencies and functional requirements of particular departments or organisations.
The proposed policy, once approved, would be implemented across the concerned departments, PSUs, boards and autonomous bodies.
Speaker Rather questioned Sharma over the delay in acting on a report received by his office on September 1, 2026.
“If the report came to your office on Sept 1, 2026, why haven’t you done anything about it till today, and you are telling us that it will take two more months,” Rather said.
He also questioned the practice of providing separate vehicles to an officer holding charge of two departments.
“Why can’t an officer in charge of two departments use the same vehicle rather than using two different vehicles?” the Speaker asked.
Responding, Sharma said the Government would look into the matter and described it as a “legacy issue”.
“We will look into it. It is a legacy issue. I will come back to you with detail tomorrow,” Sharma said.
Rather questioned whether an existing practice could not be changed if it was found to be incorrect.
“If legacy is wrong, can’t you correct it? Are you going to give us details in this session?” the Speaker asked.
Sharma assured the House that he would return with the details.