AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Governor O P Kohli sent a controversial bill seeking changes in the existing Gujarat Agricultural Land Ceiling Act-1960 to the President of India for his approval.
According to a senior official of Gujarat state's Legislative and Parliamentary Department, Kohli has approved eight out of nine bills, which were passed in the Gujarat Assembly during its monsoon session last month and these have been sent to the President for his approval.
The official said that Kohli has chosen to send the Gujarat Agricultural Land Ceiling (Amendment) Bill-2015 for presidential assent.
"The Governor has signed eight out of nine bills, while one bill related to agricultural land ceiling has been forwarded to the President by him," the official said.
The bills which were given approval by the Governor include Gujarat Tenancy and Agricultural Land Laws (Amendment) Bill, Gujarat Electricity Duty (Amendment) Bill, Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, Gujarat Prohibition (Amendment) Bill, the official said.
The other bills are Gujarat Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, Shri Govind Guru University Bill, Bhakta Kavi Narsinh Mehta University Bill and Gujarat Agricultural Produce Markets (Second Amendment) Bill, the official said.
During the monsoon session, the Gujarat government passed the Gujarat Agricultural Land Ceiling (Amendment) Bill-2015 amending the present Act in the state to facilitate industries as well as civic bodies acquire and use surplus agricultural land, which was prohibited in the original Act.
Through these amendments, the Gujarat government has enabled itself to allot this surplus land to industries as well as civic bodies.