Council confirms the legislations are dead
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Apr 21: In a significant development, the Legislative Council has formally confirmed that three major bills—one pertaining to setting up of three Universities in the State and two for charging Property Tax and establishment of a Property Board have lapsed in the Upper House but two of them have come back again from the Assembly and were sent to the Joint Select Committee.
Top official sources confirmed that a significant bill, which had triggered massive protests in the Assembly from both ruling National Conference and opposition, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which sought to establish three Universities in the State, has lapsed.
“The bill has lapsed. It is dead. It is no more alive. It’s gone now’’, sources said, adding if the Government or the private members of the Assembly wanted to pass the bill, they would have to come up again with the legislation from the Lower House.
The bill, which has lapsed, proposed to set up three Universities in the State including Trans World Muslim University sponsored by Jamiat-e-Alia Hadees, Sheikh ul Alam University, sponsored by another sect of Muslims and Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa University.
The Legislative Assembly had passed the bill in its autumn session in Srinagar on October 9, 2010. National Conference MLA from Kupwara, Saifullah Mir was mover of the bills.
The Legislative Council had taken up the bills on October 12, 2010. The majority in the Upper House including Congress members, who were coalition partner in National Conference headed Government, didn’t endorse the bill and wanted them to be referred to the Joint Select Committee.
The House had by a majority view agreed to send the bills to the JSC.
According to sources, the then Presiding Officer of the Legislative Council (former Deputy Chairman Arvinder Singh Micky), had written to Legislative Assembly Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone seeking names of MLAs for induction in the JSC. The Speaker had given two names.
However, the Joint Select Committee was not constituted on the bill.
Sources said new Legislative Council Chairman, Amrit Malhotra like Arvinder Singh Micky had refused to nominate the JSC. Under rules, the bills get lapsed if the Legislative Council didn’t pass it within a specified time frame after the approval of Lower House.
“The time period has lapsed and so was the fate of bills, which had generated a lot of heat in the Legislative Assembly during budget session especially on April 3 when ruling National Conference and opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had unanimously created massive uproar over the bill’’, sources said.
Though the Speaker had on April 3 maintained that the bill was alive, the very next day he said he would take up the issue with the Legislative Council Chairman.
Highly placed sources in the Legislative Council Secretariat confirmed that the bill was dead and not alive. They said the Legislative Assembly had to pass the bill once again if the issue of the Universities was to be revived. However, the problem was that the Congress, the main coalition partner in the Government, was now opposed to the bill though it had supported it in October 2010.
Congress sources admitted that their Legislative Assembly members had passed the bill in 2010 as “out of sight’’. But it was in the Legislative Council that one of the MLC objected to it and got it blocked by proposing that the bill should be referred to the JSC. It was then allowed to die with the help of the Presiding Officers of the Upper House, who refused to nominate members to the JSC.
According to sources, two bills proposing levy of property tax on the people and setting up of Property Tax Board, which were part of reforms in Housing and Urban Development sector to secure Central grants under Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), which were approved by the Assembly during 2011 budget session, have also lapsed.
These bills also lapsed as the Presiding Officers didn’t set up the JSC fearing that imposition of property tax on the people would mar electoral prospectus of the Congress in future.
However, as the grants under JNNURM were not being released by the Centre, the Housing and Urban Development Department realized that the bills passed by the Assembly have lapsed and they got it approved again from the Lower House on last day of budget session on April 4.
But the Upper House again stalled the bills the very same day when they came up in the Council for approval. The House had approved that the bills should be sent to the JSC.
This time, however, the Legislative Council has timely constituted the JSC making Deputy Chief Minister, Tara Chand, Incharge Housing and Urban Development Department to whose Ministry the bills pertained, as chairman of the JSC.
Worthwhile to mention here that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had said on floor of the Lower House just few days before the property tax and Property Board bills were passed for the second time that there was no other option but to pass these bills and take up other reforms in lieu of JNNURM grants running in to about Rs 700 crores, which have been stalled by the Centre in the absence of requisite reforms.
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