Declaring Bengal dists `disturbed’ no cakewalk for Centre — Experts

According to legal luminary Rajeev Dhawan, there is no way the Centre can invoke the Disturbed Area Act, 1976, in parts of West Bengal.

“The Act can be mobilised only by the state government,” he says. And even after the Act has been enforced, it does not give any power to the Centre to intervene in the state administration. “It only means that some special courts will be set up in the area to try the accused,” Dhawan points out. So, to apply this Act in West Bengal, it will first have to be amended.

Constitutional expert P.P. Rao reinforces the view, saying that the Centre will have to issue an ordinance if it wants to declare the areas disturbed. For the ordinance to come into force as per Article 123 of the Constitution, the President will have to sign it. He can refuse and send it back for reconsideration. And the ordinance will lapse until Parliament ratifies it within six weeks of reassembling. “Though it can be done through a simple majority, the Government will face problems in the Rajya Sabha where it does not have a majority,” Rao explains.

Another way the Centre can intervene in the affairs of the state where the law and order machinery has broken down is by what Dhawan calls the “North-East solution”, i.e., by enforcing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958. “This too is done by the approval of the state. When the Act was invoked in Nagaland, it was done only with the approval of the Naga people,” he says.

To him, it is more of a political issue. “The Government can do nothing more than send the signal that it supports Mamata Banerjee and condemns the CPM. It is just a pre-election manoeuvre. It will not have any instrumental effect. And if it does happen, it will be the beginning of Army rule in the country,” the legal expert says.