GOVERNOR RAM Naik on Thursday referred the UP Nagar Nigam (Amendment) Bill-2015 and UP Nagarpalika Vidhi (Amendment) Bill-2015 to President Pranab Mukherjee, finding certain provisions contrary to the Constitution. This assumes significance amid Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Azam Khan blaming the Raj Bhavan for “stalling Bills”, saying that it gave an impression that the Governor was working under the influence of a particular party. In the last Assembly session, Khan had accused Naik of stalling several bills by not giving his assent. “A Bill (UP Nagar Nigam Amendment Bill 2015) is pending with the Governor for over one year, through which, mayors could be removed for financial irregularities. The Governor has stalled the Bill giving an impression that he is working under influence of a party,” Khan had said, adding the Bill was not given assent so that mayors could not be punished for their “dishonesty”. Later, Naik had sought edited as well as unedited copies of the House proceedings from the Speaker. He had also written to the chief minister, raising questions on the capacity of Azam to be the parliamentary affairs minister. [related-post] “The Governor found that certain provisions of the Bills are against the concept of local self-governance as well as the spirit of democracy. The Bills would give right to the state government to issue showcause notice to mayors and chairmen of nagar palikas and in case of unsatisfactory reply, further give power to state to withdraw their financial powers and give it to the administrative officers instead,” said official spokesperson of Raj Bhavan. The Raj Bhavan further pointed out that the Bills did not clarify the procedure to be adopted for inquiry against mayors or chairmen of nagar palikas. “The Governor has also informed the chief minister about the development as after referring these two Bills to the President of India, only two out of seven Bills will remain pending for Governor’s consideration, which include UP Minority Commission (Amendment) Bill-2015 and UP Lok Ayukta and UP Lokayukta (Amendment) Bill-2015,” the spokesperson added. WATCH THE INDIAN EXPRESS NEWS PLAY LIST HERE
