Front Page   

President's nod for Anti-Defection Bill

By Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI JAN. 2. The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, today gave his assent to the Bill pertaining to changes in the anti-defection law and limiting the size of the Council of Ministers at the Centre and in the States, according to Rashtrapati Bhavan sources. With the Presidential assent behind it, the Bill has become an Act and it is expected to be notified in the Gazette in the next few days. The President's assent has been eagerly awaited by the All-India Congress Committee facing heightened dissident activity in Punjab and Kerala.

The law to check defections and limit the size of the Council of Ministers both at the Centre and the States takes effect in the backdrop of rapid political developments and indications that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition Government at the Centre could go in for early Lok Sabha polls, most probably in April-May.

The new law aims at limiting the size of the Council of Ministers to 15 per cent of the Lower House in the case of the Centre and in the States prune the jumbo Cabinets as in Uttar Pradesh.

On the anti-defection front, the law gives teeth to debar a defector from holding any "remunerative political post'' for the remaining tenure of the legislature unless re-elected. The amended law describes a "remunerative political post'' as any office (a) where the salary or remuneration for such office is paid out of the public revenue and (b) under a body, whether incorporated or not, which is wholly or partially owned by the Government of India or the Government of a State and the salary or remunerations for such office is paid by such body.

The President also gave his assent to the Prevention of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill empowering the Central Review Committee to decide whether there is a prima facie case for proceeding against the accused arrested under this Act and issue directions accordingly.

Under the amended Act, four sub-sections under Section 60 of the POTA have been inserted to provide more teeth to the committee, whose decisions would be binding on the Centre, the States and police.

It also says that "if the Review Committee is of the opinion that there is no prima facie case for proceeding against the accused and issues directions then proceedings pending against the accused shall be deemed to have been withdrawn from the date of such direction."

Another Bill providing for the inclusion of Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri in the Eighth Schedule has also received the Presidential assent.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Ready for dialogue, ball in India's court: Pakistan
• Interviews cancelled
• My last attempt at peace, says Vajpayee
• Six killed as militants attack Jammu railway station
• President's nod for Anti-Defection Bill
• Karnataka names judge to try assets cases
• Centre to go in for vote-on-account?
• VRS for insurance staff
• Sensex reaches 6,000-mark
• SCG — where the ghosts of past players reside

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu