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‘Bill doesn’t need Presidential nod’
Lawyer Anupam Gupta says the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara (Management) Bill passed by the Haryana assembly is not required to be sent for the President’s assent. “The bill is fully within the legislative competence of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha,” he said.
Lawyer Anupam Gupta says the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara (Management) Bill passed by the Haryana assembly is not required to be sent for the President’s assent. “The bill is fully within the legislative competence of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha,” he said.
Gupta said the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, was a state or provincial Act and not a central legislation published in the Punjab gazette on August 7, 1925, and amended repeatedly by the Punjab legislature. “Hence, there is no question of any conflict or repugnancy within the meaning of Article 254 of the Constitution between the Haryana bill and the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925,” he said.
He said Punjab was governor’s province under the Government of India Act, 1919. The Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, was enacted by the Punjab legislature and not by the central legislature under the 1919 Act. “The only central Act in question here is the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, which itself confers legislative competence on state legislatures in addition to Parliament through Section 72 (1). This provision is to be read along with the concurrent list in the seventh schedule of the Constitution,” he said.
