KOLKATA: President Droupadi Murmu on Friday returned the West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Bill, commonly known as the ‘anti-Goonda’ Bill, to the state for reconsideration.
The Bill, passed by the West Bengal Assembly, was sent to the Rashtrapati Bhavan after concerns were raised over its provisions and their conflict with Central legislation. The Centre raised concerns over the Bill’s provisions relating to offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
“Section (B) of the proposed Bill, insofar as it includes within the definition of ‘goonda’ a person who commits, attempts to commit, abets, promotes, finances or facilitates any offence punishable under ththe e NDPS Act, 1985, may overlap with the preventive-detention framework provided under the PITNDPS Act, 1988, which is a specific Central legislation dealing with preventive detention of persons engaged in illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances,” the Central government said in its note.
“The proposed provision may, therefore, create an overlapping or parallel preventive-detention mechanism in respect of drug-related activities and may give rise to an issue of repugnancy under Article 254 of the Constitution of India. Accordingly, the reference to offences under NDPS Act, 1985 in Section 2(d)(iii)(B) may be deleted to avoid duplication and overlap with the existing Central statutory framework,” the note stated.
Officials in the state secretariat Nabanna said, “It’s a setback to the state government, which had a plan to make it effective soon. But there is a scope to get the Bill passed in the Assembly again after making some amendments within the framework of the Central act. After that, it will be sent to the Rashtrapati Bhaban again for clearance.”
The Bill was passed in the state Assembly in June-end but has not been enacted as it was awaiting the President’s assent. The state had earlier informed the Calcutta High Court that the ‘anti-Goonda’ law had not been notified and had not come into force.
The opposition Trinamool Congress faction led by Mamata Banerjee, CPI-M and Congress welcomed the President’s decision. Bengal Congress president Subhankar Sarkar alleged that the Suvendu Adhikari government wanted to suppress opposition voices and was therefore keen to make the Bill an Act.
The state had also passed the Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill to confiscate and auction properties of those involved in damaging public and private property. Suvendu Adhikari had said the Bill had been notified and had come into force across Bengal.
“The bill to attach and confiscate properties of those who ransack public and private properties has been notified on Monday after the governor’s assent. With the Act coming into force, we will see who dares to ransack state-run buses as they did in Santragachi or rampage in Dhulian and Samserganj. We will recover three-fold compensation if they damage properties,” he had said at Nabanna.
Suvendu had also said the anti-Goonda Bill was awaiting the President’s assent.
“There were two parts to this (the whole exercise). One part was to detain the anti-socials and another part was to recover the damage from them by auctioning their properties. The part of auctioning the properties of anti-socials has been notified, and the other part is waiting the President’s assent. We are hopeful that we will get the approval soon, as we have heard that the (Union) law ministry has approved it. Whatever we do, we do it after considering all the aspects,” he had said.