Chandigarh, November 27
The Haryana Governor, Dr A.R. Kidwai, has returned the controversial Bills seeking to advance elections to the panchayati and municipal elections for reconsideration by the state Assembly. The Bills were returned last night, according to reliable sources.
Old-timers, including a former Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, do not recall any occasion when a Haryana Governor returned a Bill passed by the House. He said the Governors had sent the Bills for the consideration of the President, but they never returned the Bills to the state Assembly. He said the Assembly should not take a serious view of the objections, which must have been raised by the Governor. The ruling party should not misuse its majority to ignore the views of the Governor.
The Governor’s decision to return the Bills four days before the Assembly is scheduled to meet has provided the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, with a virtual God-sent opportunity. He can re-introduce the Bills in the House and get them passed, given the majority of the INLD. Once the House readopts the Bills, with or without taking the notice of objections raised by the Governor, Dr Kidwai will not be left with any other option except to give his assent to the Bills.
On the political front, it seems that at least a section of the Congress leadership is letting down state leaders of the party. Earlier, when the Haryana Congress and the president of the Youth Congress, Mr Randeep Surjewala, strongly opposed the Bills and urged the Governor not to give his assent to them, the Union Minister for Panchayats, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, publicly stated that there was no legal lacuna in the Bills. Mr Surjewala was provoked to describe Mr Aiyar’s statement as “off-the-cuff” remarks.
The Haryana Congress leaders as well as other Opposition leaders fear that the ruling INLD wants to hold the panchayat and municipal elections before the Assembly poll so that the community, particularly in the rural areas, is divided and the INLD gets the support of at least one group.
Recently, the Governor had sent the Bills for the advice of the Attorney-General of India, Mr Milon Banerjee, through the Union Law Ministry. It was widely believed that for all practical purposes the fate of the Bills had been sealed as the Union Law Ministry would take its own time in processing the Bills. This made the Haryana Congress leaders complacent.
However, the Governor’s decision to return the Bills has come as a surprise. It is not known if he has returned the Bills on the advice of the Union Law Ministry or Mr Banerjee or he has acted before receiving such advice. If he has acted on the advice of the Union Law Ministry, the Haryana Congress leaders have been, to put it mildly, embarrassed. They would find it hard to explain to the people why they could not persuade the Union Law Minister, Mr Hans Raj Bhardwaj, who also belongs to Haryana, to “sit” over the Bills, which constitute an important part
of the INLD strategy for the Assembly elections.
Their hopes now lie with the Election Commission of India and the Governor. If the Election Commission announces the Assembly elections before the Haryana State Election Commission is able to initiate the panchayat and municipal poll process, the latter can be stalled. Since the Constitution does not provide a time-frame for a Governor to give his assent to even that Bill which has been reconsidered by the Assembly, the Congressmen can urge him to withhold the assent for some time. However, Dr Kidwai may not like to do so on moral grounds.
The sources say the Governor has returned the Bills on a number of considerations. Quoting a Punjab and Haryana High Court
judgment, Dr Kidwai is believed to have written that the 60 days provided in the existing Act is sufficient to hold the panchayat elections before the expiry of their term in April next. The panchayat elections were completed in less than 25 days in 1994 and 2000. Similarly, about 35 days were required to complete the municipal election process. Moreover, in the Acts relating to the municipal bodies, no time limit has been given in which the elections are to be held before the expiry of their term. Hence the Bills relating to the municipal committees and municipal corporations are redundant.
Dr Kidwai has also pointed out that since certain sitting members are bound to be defeated and new members will be elected in their place, it will create a dichotomy. While the elected members will wield authority by virtue of their victory, the defeated members would exercise their powers by virtue of being in office.
He is also believed to have stated that holding of the elections 120 days before the expiry of the term would de facto curtail the term of the panchayats, which was not permissible in terms of the Punjab and Haryana High Court
judgment in a Punjab case.
The secretary of the Haryana Congress, Mr Satpal Kaushik, said the government’s intention behind the Bills was dishonest. When in 1999, it did not suit the INLD to hold the panchayat elections before the Assembly elections, it wanted their term to be extended beyond five years. Now when it suited the government to hold the panchayat poll before the Assembly elections, it wanted to curtail their term. Terming it as a fraud on the Constitution, he said the Governor should consult the Election Commission before giving his assent to the Bills, which may be reconsidered and passed by the House.
The consultation with the Election Commission was necessary, he said, because the latter was responsible to hold the elections to the new Assembly, which had to be in place before March 9 when the term of the existing House expired. On the other hand, the term of the panchayats and municipal bodies expired only in April next.
Mr Kaushik also alleged that by initiating the panchayat poll process, the government wanted to present the Election Commission with a fair accomplice. The latter may be forced to delay the Assembly elections beyond the term of the House if the state Election Commission initiated the panchayat poll process before the Election Commission of India announced the Assembly elections.
