Passed by House, 10 laws yet to be enforced

Successive governments failed to implement 10 new laws passed by Parliament and approved by the presidents, during the last 14 years.

Successive governments failed to implement 10 new laws passed by Parliament and approved by the presidents, during the last 14 years.

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A study, conducted by the Delhi-based PRS Legislative Research, shows 17 other laws were only partially implemented since the governments removed some of their controversial sections before issuing notifications.

The study analysed central Acts passed by Parliament between 1995 and 2008. It focused on Acts which require the government to issue a notification to give them the force of a law.

“For instance, both the Delhi Rent Act and the National Environment Tribunal Act were passed by Parliament and received the assent of the president in 1995, but the relevant notifications bringing them into force have not yet been issued,” says the yet to be released study.

In its reply to a RTI query on why the Rent Act was not brought into force, the urban development ministry told the PRS: “Since there were some representations against the Act, it was decided to amend some of the provisions. The matter is under examination.”

“Such delays, ascribed to the influence of lobbying, have raised the question of whether the government has effectively assumed the power to ‘veto’ parts of a law or even the whole of it, even after Parliament passed them,” the study noted.