Bill Returned Over Overlap
President Murmu Returns West Bengal Anti-Goonda Bill Over Central NDPS Overlap
Anonymous
President Droupadi Murmu returned West Bengal’s anti-goonda bill to the state legislature for reconsideration after the Union government objected to its treatment of drug-related offenses. The disputed clause would classify people involved in offenses under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act as “goondas,” potentially creating a state preventive-detention regime alongside the central framework under the PITNDPS Act. The government warned that the overlap could create parallel detention mechanisms and raise a constitutional conflict under Article 254. Passed by the state assembly in June, the bill would also allow authorities to exclude people from specified areas for up to a year and impose reporting requirements.
Key Points
1
The bill also targets organised crime, extortion, illegal mining, cybercrime and public disorder, beyond the drug-related provision at the centre of the dispute.
2
Under Article 200, a state bill may be reserved for the President; for a non-Money Bill, the President can return it to the state legislature with a message asking it to reconsider the bill or specified provisions. The reason this bill was initially referred to the President was unclear, according to the article.
3
The bill would let a district magistrate, police commissioner or state-authorised police officer of at least DIG rank issue an exclusion order if apprehensive that a person would engage in anti-social activities.
4
A court hearing petitions about the bill treated them as premature because the legislation had not received presidential assent, while leaving petitioners free to return to court if the required assent was granted.
5
TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee criticised the state government’s handling of the bill, posting: “Double engine in posters; reverse gear in governance. Homework Sent Back!”
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