72 private member bills to be listed in J&K Assembly

Srinagar, Mar 23: As many as 72 private member bills are scheduled to be listed for consideration in the second leg of the budget session starting on March 27. However, the chances of these bills being passed remain bleak, given that such legislations have rarely been approved in J&K’s legislative history.
Despite politicking over these bills, records show that they have failed to move beyond the stage of consideration, leaving most proposals without legislative success. Since 1980, only three private member bills have been cleared by the legislature of the erstwhile state.
Two of those were “The Jammu and Kashmir Grant of Permit for Resettlement in (or Permanent Return to) the State Act, 1982” and “The Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 2007, both moved by Abdul Rahim Rather, Speaker of the J&K Assembly. The third was the Jammu and Kashmir State Legislature Members Pension (Amendment) Act, 2014, jointly moved by NC and PDP MLAs to enhance the pension of former legislators.
Among the 72 private member bills listed in this session, all spotlight is on NC MLA Tanvir Sadiq’s proposal to amend the Land Grants Act, a bill addressing the issue of expired leases. Sources have not ruled out the possibility of MLAs from the ruling party and its allies supporting the bill in the House. The proposal has already evoked responses from smaller opposition parties such as the PDP and the PC.
However, it is not certain that the bill will come up for consideration- the stage where the government decides whether to allow discussion before it proceeds to two other stages. This uncertainty arises because the bill is likely to be listed at serial number 27. Normally, only 8 to 12 bills are taken up each day when private member bills are scheduled.
Other significant private member bills include four separate proposals on liquor ban, submitted by Ali Muhammad Sagar, Mir Muhammad Fayaz, Sheikh Khursheed, and Ahsan Pardesi. Besides, three bills seeking regularisation of daily wagers have been submitted by M.Y. Tarigami (CPI(M)), Waheed-ur-Rehman Para (PDP), and Devinder Manyal (BJP). (KNO)