SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly is scheduled to take up the Jammu and Kashmir Ease of Doing Business Bill, 2026, along with a wide range of private members’ Bills when it meets in Srinagar on Monday.
According to the List of Business issued by the Assembly Secretariat, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who also holds the Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs portfolio, will introduce the Jammu and Kashmir Ease of Doing Business Bill, 2026 (L.A. Bill No. 11 of 2026). The Bill has already been published in an extraordinary issue of the Official Gazette.
The proposed legislation seeks to replace permission-based controls with rule-based governance and aims to facilitate ease of doing business and ease of living, generate employment, attract investment and promote long-term economic growth in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Bill provides for a framework under which enterprises would generally be permitted to undertake activities unless specifically prohibited by law. It also lays down principles of proportionality, transparency and time-bound decision-making, including deemed approvals where applications are not disposed of within prescribed timelines.
Among its key provisions, the proposed law envisages a three-year moratorium on routine inspections and coercive measures against enterprises in connection with approvals, subject to specified exceptions, including complaints of a serious nature.
The legislation also proposes a Union Territory Ease of Doing Business Council headed by the Chief Minister and an Executive Committee headed by the Chief Secretary for implementation and coordination.
The Assembly is also scheduled to consider a number of private members’ Bills for introduction.
These include Bills concerning prohibition of online gaming and fantasy leagues, substance-abuse prevention and rehabilitation, waiver of outstanding electricity dues for specified economically vulnerable categories, right to shelter for landless households, district-cadre reservation in government posts and time-bound healthcare staffing in remote and difficult areas.
Other proposed Bills seek amendments relating to the National Law University Act, solid-waste management, specified trees, establishment of a Bhaderwah University, rehabilitation of natural-calamity victims, government employee transfers, the Reservation Act and regularisation of long-term temporary government workers.
The list also includes proposed legislation on women’s and adolescent girls’ health and well-being, a university campus at Bani, regulation of unsafe and adulterated food, establishment of a Gurez Development Authority, amendments to the Civil Services (Decentralization and Recruitment) Act, and employment opportunities for educated youth.
Among the other proposals are a framework for digital news publishers and social-media news channels, prohibition of tobacco products, employment generation and skill development, road maintenance through local labour, expedited disposal of cases affecting public works, enhanced compensation for natural disasters, and statutory protection and regularisation of long-term temporary government employees.
The Assembly is further scheduled to consider Bills concerning participation of local youth in minor-mineral mining and amendments to the Jammu and Kashmir Water Resources (Regulation and Management) Act, 2010.
Two private members’ Bills have also been listed for consideration and passing. One, moved by Tanvir Sadiq, seeks to restore the Jammu and Kashmir Land Grants Act, 1960 and the rules framed under it to their original form prior to the 2022 rules, while another, moved by Sajad Shaheen, seeks establishment of a university campus at Banihal in Ramban district.
The Assembly is scheduled to meet at 10 am on September 28.
