Unfazed by the Opposition’s sabre-rattling, the Government on Tuesday decided to re-promulgate the Ordinance on land Acquisition by accommodating a set of nine amendments passed in the lok Sabha on the related Bill.he Cabinet recommended re-promulgation of the Ordinance since the current Ordinance will expire on April 5. Now the recommendation will go to President Pranab Mukherjee for his assent. The Cabinet meet was presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Government had prorogued the Budget Session of Rajya Sabha, where it lacked a majority to pass the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill to be able to re-promulgate the Ordinance. Now, it will get six-months to mobilise support for the passage of the Bill in the Upper House.
In no mood to oblige the Government by passing the Bill in the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition mounted a strong campaign against the Bill. led by Sonia Gandhi, the Opposition parties demanded the passage of the original land Bill that was passed during the UPA regime.
The Centre’s decision to re-promulgate the land Acquisition Ordinance could be challenged in the Supreme Court, which, in the past, held that an Ordinance is meant for extraordinary situations and not to act as a substitute for a Parliament-enacted law. The court was particularly opposed to re-promulgation of any Ordinance.
A five-judge Constitution Bench decision in DC Wadhwa vs State of Bihar case on December 20, 1986, is by far an authority on this subject where the court held: “The Government, if it wishes the provisions of the Ordinance to be continued in force beyond the period of six weeks, has to go before the legislature which is the constitutional authority entrusted with the law-making function.
It would most certainly be an exercise of power for the Government to ignore the legislature and to re-promulgate the Ordinance and thus to continue to regulate the life and liberty of the citizens through Ordinance made by the Executive.”
In that landmark case, the apex court struck down an Ordinance issued by the Bihar Government on the ground that the Executive transgressed its constitutional limitation in matter of its law-making power, thus playing a fraud on the constitutional provision of Article 123 allowing promulgation of such Ordinances.
In the Wadhwa case, the SC Bench unanimously held: “The power to promulgate an Ordinance is essentially a power to be used to meet an extraordinary situation and it cannot be allowed to be perverted to serve political ends.” The Bihar Government was accused of promulgating three Ordinances in a row, two of which had lapsed.
Observing that “Ordinance Raj” cannot be permitted under the constitutional scheme, the Bench had observed: “The Constitution makers expected that if the provisions of the Ordinance are to be continued in force, six weeks should be sufficient for the legislature to pass the necessary Act.
But if within this time the legislature does not pass such an Act, the Ordinance must come to an end.” Meanwhile, Home Minister Rajnath Singh appealed to the Opposition to support the land Acquisition Bill and help in its passage in Parliament while amendments in the interest of farmers could be taken up later.
“let the land Acquisition Bill be passed first. If it proves in future that it is hurting farmers’ interests, we can always amend it. The Government is ready to do that. But let it be passed in Parliament first,” Singh said in Teen Bigha in West Bengal.
He said the welfare of farmers and development of villages were very necessary for the country as without comprehensive development of farmers, there cannot be any progress of India. Singh said that the NDA Government was committed for the development of the rural folks in the country. “I would like to appeal to political parties to support the land Acquisition Bill and allow its passage in Parliament,” he said.