news details |
|
|
| Deputy Chairman breaches mandate | | No political reservation for SCs in J&K, bill pending with LC | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
JAMMU, Apr 6: Constitutional Amendment Bill extending political reservations to Scheduled Castes (SCs) in the state by another 10 years was first illegally passed in the house of elders and later, declared not passed on the penultimate day of budget session.
The act has left schedule castes waiting for another session for passage of bill extending reservation for them for another ten years. Alleged breach of constitutional provisions was committed by none other than Deputy Chairman Mohammed Yousuf Taing, a veteran politician and colleague of NC's founder Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah.
Being a constitutional amendment bill, rules stipulated that it had to be passed with two-third majority in both the houses of state legislature. In the lower house, the bill was passed by two third majority of the House as all members including those of Opposition PDP, BJP, its rebel group and JKNPP stood up in support of the Bill. However, the drama took place in the Upper House.
Sources said that on the penultimate day of the budget session, bill was placed before the members of the upper house late in the evening. They added that there were only 14 members in the house. Official as well as media gallery was vacant. Minister of State for Cooperative Dr. Manohar Lal moved the bill for consideration and passing.
Taing placed the motion before the house without realizing that being a constitutional amendment bill; it was supposed to be passed with two-third majority of the house. Council has 36 seats, out of which 30 have been filled while 6 others are vacant. If the actual strength of house (both vacant and elected seats) is taken into account, then the constitutional amendment bill required strength of 24 for passage.
Contrary to this, if the present position of the council is debated, then the government required 20 members to get the constitutional amendment bill through. However, there were only 14 members in the house when the constitutional amendment bill for amending J&K Representation Act 2004 was put up for voting. Even the members did not take note of the constitutional illegality being committed by Taing.
The bill was put to vote and Deputy Chairman Taing announced that it has been passed. After the passage of bill, when the council secretariat was asked, they said that government had requisite numbers and bill has been passed. However, detailed investigation revealed that 12 members were not present in the house when the bill was put to vote. Hence, the strength of house was 18 including the Deputy Chairman.
Those absent included four from PDP namely Murtaza Khan, Syed Asgar Ali, Mohammed Asharaf Mir, Nizamudin Khatana, four from Congress namely Amrit Malhotra, Ravinder Sharma, Subhash Gupta, Mohammed Amin Bhat, three from NC namely Ajatshatru Singh, Ghulam Qadir Pardesi, Devinder Rana and lone JKNPP member Syed Rafiq Shah.
Those who were present included Ajay Sadhotra, Dr. Basheer Ahmed Veeri, R.S. Chib, Aga Ahmed Rizvi, Narboo Gailchan, Khalid Suhrawardy, Jahangir Mir, Bashir Ahmed Magray, Javed Rana, Jugal Kishore, Naresh Gupta, Haji Ali Mohammed Bhat, Vijay Bakaya, Sheikh Ghulam Rasool B.R. Kundal, Master Noor Hussain, Dharmveer Singh Oberoi and Deputy Chairman Mohammed Yousuf Taing.
Though Minister of State for Home Nasir Aslam Wani, Minister for Finance Abdul Rahim Rather, Minister for Revenue Raman Bhalla and Minister of State for cooperatives Dr. Manohar Lal were also present in the house but for not being members of upper house, their was inconsequential. Hence, the investigation revealed that Deputy Chairman Mohammed Yousuf Taing passed the bill with simple majority.
When Secretary Legislative Council was asked, he said "The bill was passed in the legislative council. But when it came to me, I went through the constitutional stipulations and found out that its passage required two-third majority. Since the same was not in the house, the bill is still pending with us." He added that the bill would be put to vote again in the house during the next session. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
