In Jharkhand, a bizarre case of officials changing bill text after assembly nod

Jharkhand governor has sent a bill back to the government for the second time in two months and reprimanded the chief secretary for not following the basic rules.

RANCHI: Jharkhand governor Ramesh Bais has returned a bill back to the government for the second time in two months and reprimanded the state’s chief secretary for not following the laid down procedure meant for removing the defects highlighted by his office, people aware of the development said on Tuesday.

Jharkhand governor Ramesh Bais has returned three bills in the past two months because there were differences in the English and Hindi versions of the bills besides a few other discrepancies. (File Photo)

The governor returned the finance bill to amend the stamp duty act for the second time-- accusing government officials of not following basic principles.

A top official in the governor’s office said that this is the third bill in the past two months that the governor has returned just because there were differences in the English and Hindi versions of the bill besides a few other discrepancies.

“It seems the state executive is not even following the basic procedures. This is the third bill in past two months that the governor has returned just because there was difference in the English and Hindi versions of the bill besides a few other discrepancies. While the government is still to send back the other two bills, the finance bill to amend the stamp duty act was sent back last month by the executive without taking assent from the assembly or even the cabinet,” the official said.

The governor summoned chief secretary Sukhdev Singh last week and reprimanded the top executive for not following the basic rules and ‘circumventing the constitutional principles’ in passage of a law.

“No bill can be sent back to the governor without informing the assembly about the amendments brought forth in the law. Every member of the House has the right to know what changes are being made in the bill they had passed in the assembly. And in this case the executive got the bill reprinted just by incorporating the suggested changes and sent it back to the governor for assent. The governor took a serious view of the development and informed the chief secretary that he can’t shy away from his responsibility as it was sent back with his signature,” the official added.

According to officials, the governor’s office sent the finance bill, which was passed by the assembly during the winter session in December 2021, back to the government on February 1, 2022 with direction to correct ‘differences’ at over a dozen places in the English and Hindi versions of the bill. The state sent it back to Raj Bhawan on March 21, when the budget session of the assembly was still on, for the govenror’s assent. However, the governor sent it back to the chief secretary again with his reservations on March 31.

When contacted, chief secretary Sukhdev Singh refused to comment on the development. However, a top official in the chief minister’s office said that the government is examining the ‘lapse’ at its end. “This is something very basic that approval of the assembly for any change in a bill is a must. We are examining if this was an oversight or something else and trying to identify where does the buck stop for the lapse,” the official said.

The governor had earlier sent back two other bills-- ‘Prevention of Mob Violence and Mob Lynching Bill, 2021’ and ‘Pandit Raghunath Murmu Tribal University Bill, 2021’--, passed in the winter session of the assembly, seeking adequate changes. The government did not table either of the two bills in the budget session for the desired amendments.