The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Governor urged to withhold assent

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 20, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Governor urged to withhold assent

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: Governor T.N. Chaturvedi must withhold assent to the Karnataka Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2007 as it goes against the spirit of decentralisation and empowerment of panchayats, the former Minister P.G.R. Sindhia has said.

In a letter to the Governor, Mr. Sindhia and H. Ekanthaiah, former Minister and president of the Surendra Mohan faction of the Janata Dal (S), said the proposed amendment to Section 3 of the Act sought to empower the Government to constitute any committee or authority to select beneficiaries for any housing scheme from among the eligible persons identified by gram panchayats.

Authorisation

It also empowers the Government to authorise any officer or authority to be constituted under the chairmanship of the MLA of the constituency to identify beneficiaries "in case" the gram panchayat fails to identify eligible persons.

Undermining authority

This clearly undermines the authority of the gram panchayats to select beneficiaries and, as such, it is meaningless, defective and illegal, they said.

This would only lead to a conflict between the executive and the legislature, as MLAs cannot perform the duties of the executive, which is accountable to the legislature. Further, if MLAs are appointed chairpersons of committees to select beneficiaries, disciplinary action cannot be initiated against them in case of misconduct.

Mr. Sindhia and Mr. Ekanthaiah said in the letter that the Governor should withhold assent to the Bill and reserve it for the consideration of the President in the larger interests of the people of the State.

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