The Centre rejected the controversial Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (GCTOC) Bill 2015 in its present form and returned it to the state government, seeking a review, as President Pra
The Centre rejected the controversial Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (GCTOC) Bill 2015 in its present form and returned it to the state government, seeking a review, as President Pranab Mukherjee refused to sign the bill, prompting the Union home ministry to withdraw it and seek additional information from the state government.
The bill has been pending with Mr Mukherjee since last year after it was reworked and submitted for his assent by the NDA government.
This gives rise to a peculiar situation where the Narendra Modi government is on a virtual collision course with the Gujarat government over the bill.
The NDA government is unable to pass the anti-terror law that was first piloted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while he was state chief minister.
Sources said the bill was sent by the MHA to Rashtrapati Bhavan several months ago, but the President is learnt to have reservations over signing it. Prime Minister Modi first piloted the bill as chief minister of Gujarat in 2003.
This is the second time that the MHA, under the NDA government, has returned the bill to the Gujarat government.
The Union home ministry will ask the Gujarat government to revise the bill so that it can be approved by the Centre. It has informed the President that it was withdrawing the bill and will submit a reworked version for his consent.
The controversial provisions in the bill include authorising the police to intercept telephonic conversations and making them admissible as evidence in courts; making confessions made before the police admissible in court; Section 25 of the bill, which gives immunity to the government from any legal action for “anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act”, among others. The anti-terror law has also been criticised for its “draconian” provisions like increasing the period to file chargesheets from 90 to 180 days, and strict conditions for granting of bail to an accused.
The bill was first rejected by then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in 2004, demanding the clause on interception of communications be removed. It was again rejected when Pratibha Patil was President. On both occasions, the then UPA government advised the President to reject the bill, saying several provisions of the GCTOC Bill were not in conformity with a Central law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
But despite the NDA government coming to power, the state legislation has been unable to pass muster with the MHA sending its back to the state government for clarification and review. Last year, the bill was sent back to the state government with the objections raised by the information technology ministry, which raised a red flag over the powers of interception of communications given to the state police.
The Gujarat government had strongly rebutted objections by the IT ministry saying the state was empowered under the Concurrent List to formulate criminal laws and criminal procedure. The Gujarat Assembly in March 2015 had passed the stringent bill retaining the controversial provisions twice rejected by former Presidents.
