Srinagar: The Union government has vested sweeping emergency powers under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, in the office of Jammu and Kashmir’s lieutenant governor, bypassing the elected government led by chief minister Omar Abdullah.It is for the second time since the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act came into force in 2019 that the powers of the elected government have been clipped by the Union government citing security concerns.The announcement was made on the day Abdullah said that keeping the elected representative out of the “security loop” could hamper information flow on terrorism-related activities in Jammu and Kashmir.In a notification issued by the Union government on Thursday (May 7), J&K’s lieutenant governor has been directed to “exercise the powers and discharge the functions of the state government” under sub-section 2 of Section 20 of the Telecom Act.The act empowers the Union government, state government, or any “specially authorised officer” to impose restrictions on telecom services and networks in the interest of “sovereignty and integrity of India, defence and security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states, public order” and to prevent cognisable offences.Geeta Seshu, a prominent activist with the Free Speech Collective, said that the notification shows “complete disregard” for Abdullah’s government and it is likely to make J&K’s LG “more powerful”.“Under the telecom act, the central and state governments have the power to authorise officers to take control of telecom services but this can bypass J&K’s (elected) government and illustrates a complete lack of regard for it,” she said.Seeking to downplay the notification, Imran Nabi Dar, the ruling party spokesperson, said that the security apparatus in J&K comes under the purview of the LG.“Monitoring phones and disabling telecom networks falls under the security apparatus. Besides, this order is a natural extention of being a UT,” he said.Sub-section 20 (2) of the Act cited in the notification has two categories under which the Union or state governments can exercise the powers to intercept and prevent the transmission of messages by telecom service providers and also suspend telecom services.The act makes it mandatory for the telecom operators to disclose the contents of any message “in intelligible format”. According to the act, the reasons for exercising these powers are “to be recorded in writing”.Law and order which includes the matters of national security falls outside the jurisdiction of the elected government in the Union territory under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019. The J&K police report directly to the office of the lieutenant governor.However, the vesting of emergency powers under the Telecom Act in the LG’s office instead of the “state government” is likely to generate criticism from the ruling party and constitutional experts who have argued that such decisions undermine J&K’s elected government.The notification has been issued on the day Abdullah claimed that the elected government was “totally disconnected” from law and order machinery in the Union territory which could “hamper the cross-flow of vital information”.“When you operate in silos, when the elected government and the elected representatives are kept totally disconnected from the security and the law and order apparatus, then you will end up with this situation,” he said, referring to the Red Fort suicide bombing blast.In 2019, the Bhartiya Janta Party-led Union government rewrote the constitutional relationship with Jammu and Kashmir by green-lighting the J&K Reorganisation Act, which was followed by a series of amendments enabling the extension of 106 central laws to the Union territory.Ahead of the 2024 J&K assembly election, the Union home ministry amended the rules under the act further to significantly expand the lieutenant governor’s powers over police, public order and All India Services.The ruling party in Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference, has dubbed these measures as attempts to undermine the elected government of Abdullah while reminding the Union government of its promise before the Supreme Court that J&K’s statehood would be restored, which remains unfulfilled so far.Earlier this week, Abdullah alleged that the people of J&K were being punished by the Union government for not electing a BJP chief minister while referring to the absence of a roadmap for restoration of J&K’s statehood, terming its as “deceit and a breach of promise”.