Jammu, August 21
The National Conference, which is the main Opposition party in the state Assembly, has decided to disrupt the proceedings of the House in case the government did not table the Permanent Resident (Disqualification) Bill in its original form.
The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Abdul Rahim Rather, said neither an amended form of the Bill nor its tabling as a private member’s resolution was acceptable.
The controversial Bill, providing for divesting inheritance rights of those women who marry non-state subjects, had lapsed in the legislative council, as the session of the council was not convened within six months. Under the state constitution, any Bill that gets lapsed in the Upper House becomes the property of the Lower House and if passed again need not be sent to the Upper House.
When the House meets in Srinagar on Monday, the National Conference legislators will again raise the issue and attempt to force the government to table the Bill in its original form.
For both the Congress and the PDP, the Bill is going to test their nerves. Neither the PDP can oppose the tabling of the Bill, in whatever form it wishes to introduce, nor the Congress can
support it.
A senior Congress leader, who holds the post of a minister of state, said, “We will oppose the Bill and in case of any problem, we may favour referring the Bill to a select committee of the two Houses.
However, the National Conference members have been told to oppose any move to refer the Bill to the select committee.
Another strategy being given thought by the ruling coalition is to table the Bill during the fag end of the Monsoon Session so that for another six months, the issue gets sealed.
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