NEW DELHI/KOCHI: CPM MP Dr V Sivadasan on Friday introduced a private members’ bill in the Rajya Sabha seeking radical changes in the appointment of governors by amending the Constitution.
The bill proposed that the governor should be elected by the members of an electoral college consisting of MLAs, elected members of grama panchayats, municipalities and corporations of the state. Sivadasan moved the bill at a time when the governments in Kerala and many other states are at loggerheads with their governors.
In his statement of objects and reason, Sivasadan said the stature of the office of governor required that the person who holds such a position enjoys the legitimate support of the people. “Seven decades of political evolution demands that the highest offices of the country reflect the spirit of the age,” he said. As per the bill, the election of the governor should be held in “accordance with the system of proportional representation via a single transferable vote.”
The bill also proposed that a governor should hold office for five years. However, the “governor may be removed by a resolution of the state assembly by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of the assembly present and voting,” the bill said.
John Brittas moves bill seeking HC bench in T’Puram
T’Puram: The long-pending demand for a permanent High Court bench in Thiruvananthapuram received a shot in the arm when Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas introduced a private members’ bill in the Parliament on Friday. “Citizen’s right of access to justice has been enshrined in the Constitution. Justice at doorstep has been every government’s focus.
Still, nothing has materialised on the demand for a permanent HC bench in Thiruvananthapuram,” he said in the Bill, which proposes to refer cases from Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts to the new bench. “It would benefit the government, its servants, institutions and people as they will be able to pursue cases in the HC for significantly lower expenses,” he said.
He also introduced another Bill seeking an amendment to the Constitution to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability. “In Articles 15 and 16, wherein the Principle of Non-Discrimination is enshrined, disability isn’t specified as a ground, despite discrimination based on disability being rampant now,” he noted.