PARLIAMENTARY REPORT
INDIA THIRD READING: INDIA
The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill 2015
The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014 was enacted on the 1 March 2014 to provide for reorganisation of the State of Andhra Pradesh into the State of Andhra Pradesh and the State of Telangana. Sub-section (1) of section 22 of the Act provides for a Legislative Council for each of the successor States consisting of not more than 50 members in the Legislative Council of Andhra Pradesh and 40 members in the Legislative Council of Telangana in accordance with the provisions contained in article 169 of the Constitution. Sub-section (2) of section 22 provides that the existing Legislative Council of the State of Andhra Pradesh shall, on and from the appointed day, be deemed to have been constituted as two Legislative Councils of the successor States and the existing members shall be allotted to the Councils as specified in the Fourth Schedule to the Act.
According to section 23 of the Act, there shall be 50 seats in the Legislative Council of Andhra Pradesh and 40 seats in the Legislative Council of Telangana, respectively. The said section also amended entry 1 of the Third Schedule to the Representation of the People Act, 1950 so as to provide the composition of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council.
Clause (1) of article 171 of the Constitution provides that the total number of members in the Legislative Council of a State having such a Council shall not exceed one-third of the total number of members in the Legislative Assembly of that State. However, the total number of members in the Legislative Council of a State shall in no case be less than forty. At that point, the successor States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were having 175 and 119 seats respectively in their Legislative Assemblies. The State of Telangana had already been allocated 40 seats in the Legislative Council (i.e. one-third of 119 seats). Since, one-third of 175 seats in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Andhra Pradesh comes to 58, it was proposed to amend sections 22 and 23 of the Act to enhance the number of seats of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council from the existing 50 to 58 members and to amend entry 1 of the Third Schedule to the Representation of the People Act, 1950 accordingly.
230 | The Parliamentarian | 2015: Issue Three
The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill 2015 was accordingly brought forward by the Government amending sections 22 and 23 of the Principal Act enhancing the number of seats of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council from the existing 50 to 58. This measure also amended entry of the Third Schedule to the Representation of the People Act, 1950. The measure, since it sought to rectify a statutory anomaly, found unanimous support from all sections of the House.
The Bill was passed by Lok Sabha on 17 March and by Rajya Sabha on 20 March 2015. The Bill as passed by both Houses of Parliament was assented to by the President on 30 March 2015.
The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill 2015 The Supreme Court of India in Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 120 of 2012 (Manoharlal Sharma Vs. Principal Secretary & Ors.) and Writ Petition (Civil) No. 463 of 2012 (Common Cause Vs. UOI & Ors.) and other connected Public Interest Litigations, vide its judgement dated 25 August 2014 had held that allocations of the coal blocks made through Screening Committee and Government Dispensation route as arbitrary and illegal. The Supreme Court pronounced its order on 24 September 2014 cancelling allocation of 204 coal blocks out of a total of 218 allocated since 1993. In case of 42 coal blocks (37 producing and 05 ready to produce), cancellation was slated to take effect from 31 March 2015 and in respect of the others, with immediate effect. The Court had also directed that an additional levy of Rs. 295/- per metric ton be paid by these 42 coal block allocatees for the coal extracted since commencement of production till 31 March 2015. In light of the judgement and order of the Supreme Court, it was considered expedient in the public interest by the Central Government to take immediate action so as to ensure energy security of the country. The need for promulgation of the Ordinance was felt to overcome the acute shortage of coal in core sectors such as steel, cement and power utilities, which are vital for the development of the country. Further, to mitigate the hardships on household consumers, medium and small enterprises, cottage industries, as well as to overcome the overall shortage of coal in the country and augment its production by allocating coal mines to new allocatees, the Coal Mines (Nationalisation)
Act 1973 was amended by inserting section 3A and the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 1957 was amended by substituting section 11A, thereby removing the restriction of end use from the eligibility to undertake coal mining, in the national interest.
In order to implement the judgement and order of the Supreme Court and to address the above objectives, an Ordinance namely, the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Ordinance 2014 was promulgated by the President on 21 October 2014 under article 123 of the Constitution. To replace the said Ordinance, the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill 2014 was introduced in Lok Sabha on 10 December 2014. The said Bill had been passed by Lok Sabha on 12 December 2014 and was pending in Rajya Sabha. In pursuance of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Ordinance 2014, actions had been initiated by the Central Government including the framing of Rules for allocation of Coal Mines and therefore, it was considered necessary to give continuity to the provisions of the said Ordinance and save the actions taken thereunder. Since Parliament was not in session and the President was satisfied that circumstances existed which rendered it necessary for him to take immediate action, the Coal Mines (Special Provision) Second Ordinance, 2014 was promulgated on 26 December 2014 under clause (1) of article 123 of the Constitution. Under the circumstances, the Government proposed to introduce the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill 2015, to replace the Coal Mines (Special Provision) Second Ordinance 2014. Salient Features of Amending Bill – the Amending Bill provides for: •
Allocation of coal mines and vesting of the right, title and interest in and over the land and mine infrastructure together with mining leases to successful bidders and allottees through a transparent bidding process with a view to ensure continuity in coal mining operations and production of coal and for promoting optimum utilisation of coal resources consistent with the requirement of the country in national interest.
•
Having regard to the coordinated and scientific development and utilisation of coal resources consistent with the growing requirement of the country, it had been
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