10 Bills awaiting President’s nod

Implementation of e-Vidhana Mandala in legislature too pending

Several Bills passed by the Upper and Lower Houses of the State legislature, after hours of debate, are gathering dust awaiting Presidential assent, some stretching back to nearly three years. The latest among them being the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2017, which is to make way for holding kambala.

According to sources in the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, headed by Minister T.B. Jayachandra, 10 Bills, besides the implementation of e-Vidhana Mandala in the State legislature, are pending with the Centre.

While Karnataka is one of the States that recorded highest reported cases of child marriages (23.2%) in the country, Prohibition of Child Marriage (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2016, passed by the Siddaramaiah government, is yet to get the President’s nod. The Bill was drafted based on the recommendations of the core committee headed by Shivaraj V. Patil, former judge of the Supreme Court.

The Governor has referred the Bill for the consideration of President Pranab Mukherjee on the grounds that some clauses of the Bill are repugnant of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, which is a Central legislation. The State government provided clarifications to the Union Home Ministry in August 2016, but the Bill is still pending with the Centre, sources said.

Mother tongue

Similarly, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2015, too is awaiting the President’s nod. The Bill is aimed at ensuring medium of instruction in mother tongue. But both the High Court of Karnataka and Supreme Court had squashed the State’s petitions. The State legislature passed the Bill based on the provisions of 350A and 21A of the Constitution. The Bill has been referred to the Department of School Education of the Union HRD Ministry to ascertain the legality of invoking Article 350A of the Constitution pertaining to education in the mother tongue.

The State legislature passed the Registration (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2015 to amend the Registration Act of 1908 (Central Act 16 of 1908). This is to enable online registration of agreement for sale, lease deed and leave and licence agreements and for online filing of true copies of court orders, decrees and mortgages, by way of deposit of title deeds sent by banks and other financial institutions. The State government has provided clarifications to the Bill to the Centre, but still it is waiting for the President’s assent.

The State government was keen on the implementation of e-Vidhana Mandala in the State legislature and a detailed project report was submitted to the Centre estimating expenditure of Rs. 60.84 crore. The project aims for paper-less functioning of the legislature.

The State government has submitted a memorandum to the Union Home Ministry seeking early approval of Bills by the President “since these Bills are very important for overall growth and development of the State” official sources said.