New Delhi, Aug 20: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday introduced three bills in the Lok Sabha aimed at removing elected representatives, who are arrested and held in custody for 30 consecutive days on serious criminal charges.
The proposed laws target ministers facing allegations of offences carrying a potential punishment of five years or more under existing laws.
The three proposed laws are the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2025, the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirtieth Amendment) Bill, 2025, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2025.
These bills were tabled together and have been sent to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for further review. Shah requested that the committee to submit its report before the first day of the next Parliament session.
The Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill proposes changes to Articles 75, 164, and 239AA of the Constitution. These changes mandate the resignation or removal of a minister, including the Prime Minister, Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, and Ministers of Union Territories, if they are held in custody for a continuous period of 30 days on charges punishable with imprisonment of five years or more.
The bill states: “A Minister, who for any period of thirty consecutive days during holding the office as such, is arrested and detained in custody, on allegation of committing an offence under any law for the time being in force, which is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or more, shall be removed from his office, by the President on the advice of the Chief Minister to be tendered by the thirty-first day, after being taken in such custody.”
It further states that if the Chief Minister fails to tender such advice to the President by the thirty-first day, the individual will cease to be a minister from the following day.
The Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2025 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2025 seek to apply similar provisions to ministers in Union Territories and the Jammu and Kashmir administration.
These are amendments to the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. The Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill has been referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee of 31 members.
The committee will include members from both Houses of Parliament, chosen by the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman.
Several opposition MPs, including Asaduddin Owaisi, Manish Tewari, NK Premachandran, Dharmendra Yadav, and KC Venugopal, opposed the bills. They argued that the proposed changes were in conflict with constitutional provisions.
Shah, however, maintained that the committee process would allow for further discussion and review.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee will examine all three bills and submit a report in the next session. (KNO)
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