New Delhi--Since the NDA government came to power, President Pranab Mukherjee has refused assent to 10 pending state bills — most of them from Opposition-ruled states — and has given his nod to 28 Bills pending with the states, which include the controversial Gujarat Lokayukta Bill that saw a face-off between then governor Kamla Beniwal and then CM Narendra Modi.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which scrutinises Bills passed by various state governments so that it does not overlap with Central Acts, 45 bills were brought to the notice of the President between June (after NDA came to power) and December 2014.
Of the 10 bills President refused to clear, two are from Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh that were passed by then BJP governments in 2011.
The Karnataka State Innovative Universities Bill, 2011, was rejected as it was against the regulations of University Grants Commission. The Bill, cleared by the state assembly when V Sadananda Gowda was chief minister, gave the CM the power to appoint “president” of any state university, who in turn would appoint the vice-chancellor. The existing norms recognise the governor as the appointing authority for V-Cs.
The other Bill the President rejected was the Himachal Pradesh Electricity (Taxation on Generation) Bill, 2011, passed during the tenure of BJP CM Prem Kumar Dhumal. Another bill passed by Dhumal’s government— the Himachal Pradesh Special Courts (Attachment and Confiscation of Property) Bill, 2011— was returned with the President’s message.
The UP State Authority for Minority Educational Institutions Bill, 2011, that would have empowered the state to issue minority certificates to educational institutions run by religious and linguistic minorities was also scrapped.
Indian Express
