Chennai: Chief minister Jayalalithaa on Monday urged the Centre to not move the proposed “Prevention of Communal Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2013,’’ in the winter session of Parliament and claimed that it was an ‘undemocratic move’ that trampled upon the authority of states.
Following media reports that the government of India was contemplating the introduction of the Bill in the winter session, the chief minister voiced her strong opposition to the proposed bill in a letter written to the Prime Minister.
“The new Draft Bill, 2013, now circulated by the ministry of home affairs contains some modifications over the earlier 2011 draft. I find that the modifications made in the revised Draft Bill, 2013, are cosmetic at best and many of the serious issues with the earlier draft Bill still remain,” the chief minister said.
She pointed out that many of the problematic clauses in the original Draft Bill prone to subjective and arbitrary interpretation and thus consequential misuse, have been retained with little or no modification and it belittled the powers of the state.
“Framers of the Bill seem to have forgotten that state governments consist of elected representatives of the people and have the constitutional mandate to maintain law and order including combating communal violence.
To override or supersede the constitutional authority of elected state governments and giving superior power to commissions consisting of nominated members who are mere appointees of the governments will be travesty of justice and the principles of democracy,” Jayalalithaa said.
