NEW DELHI:Three city-based NGOs and the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) on Thursday filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the NDA Government’s attempt to re-promulgate the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Ordinance.
The PIL contented, “The government in complete contravention of the basic Constitutional ethos, that lawmaking function is of Parliament, has proceeded to issue the impugned Ordinance and seek to govern this country through Ordinance raj. It is the third Ordinance to be passed successively by the Central government in its attempt to thrust a land acquisition law on the country which does not have the sanction of Parliament.”
The Supreme Court had in April sought the Centre’s response on a similar PIL. The apex court had issued notice to the government seeking reply in four weeks’ time.
Petitioner advocate Devadatt Kamat argued, “It is not only arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution, but is also a fraud on the Constitution, for the government to promulgate successive Ordinance assuming itself the legislative power of Parliament.”