Ravi Shankar Prasad, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Minister of Law and Justice, Minister of Communications
Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Narendra Modi government has already repealed 1,458 old and archaic Acts and the move to scrap 58 more laws is a part of the same exercise.
The government today introduced in Lok Sabha a bill to repeal 58 old laws which, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, are a source of inconvenience and trouble for people. Opposition members accused the government of "rushing through" bills without giving lawmakers due time to deliberate on their content. Mr Prasad said the Narendra Modi government has already repealed 1,458 old and archaic Acts and the move to scrap 58 more laws is a part of the same exercise.
The government also rejected the opposition's claim that members were not given adequate time to study the bill, with Mr Prasad saying that a two-day notice was given and added that there is already a consensus that it is a good exercise. Members can debate the bill as it is only being introduced now, he said. Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said the bill was discussed in detail in business advisory committee, which has members from all major parties. Speaker Om Birla said he will work to ensure from the next session that members get a two-day period to study bills before they are introduced and added that British era laws should be scrapped and replaced with new legislations.
Some members were heard saying that the Indian Penal Code is also a British era law.
In this debate between opposition members and the ruling party, BJD's Bhartruhari Mahtab came to the government''s rescue and said it has stuck to the agenda decided in
business advisory committee. Bills were distributed among members as a supplementary agenda by previous governments, something which has not happened yet, he said. Shashi Tharoor said he was not opposed to the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2019, while the attacking the government for its "bad habit" of rushing through bills. Some of the old acts that have been repealed are the Hackney Carriage Act 1879 which was legislated for the regulation and control of hackneycarriages, Dramatic Performance Act 1876 when theatre was being used a medium of protest against the British rule.
Triple Talaq Bill Must for Gender Justice and Equality, Says Centre in Lok Sabha, Oppn Terms it Discriminatory
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said since January 2017, 574 such cases have been reported by the media.
The Lok Sabha on Thursday took up for consideration the contentious bill to make the practice of instant triple talaq illegal with up to three years in jail for the husband.
Moving the bill for consideration, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the legislation was a must for gender equality and justice as despite an August 2017 Supreme Court verdict striking down the practice of instant triple talaq, women are being divorced by 'talaq-ebiddat'. He said, since January 2017, 574 such cases have been reported by the media.
Three ordinances have so been promulgated as a similar bill moved by the previous government could not get parliamentary nod. A fresh bill was introduced by the new government in June during the ongoing Parliament session.
Under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019, divorcing through instant triple talaq will be illegal, void and would attract a jail term of three years for the husband.
Prasad said to allay fears that the proposed law could be misused, the government has included certain safeguards in it such as adding a provision of bail for the accused before trial.
While the bill makes triple talaq a "non-bailable" offence, an accused can approach a magistrate even before trial to seek bail. In a non-bailable offence, bail cannot be granted by police at the police station itself. A provision has been added to allow the magistrate to grant bail "after hearing the wife", the minister said.
The Opposition, however, was not convinced. NK Premachandran of Revolutionary Socialist Party said: "Why are you not enforcing imprisonment for divorce in the Hindu and Christian communities? Why alone in Muslim community? This is discrimination against Muslim community."
No Proposal Before Centre To Nationalise NLUs: Ravi Shankar Prasad
There are 21 National Law Universities at Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Kolkata, Jodhpur, Raipur, Gandhinagar, Lucknow, Patiala,
Patna, Kochi, Odisha, Ranchi, Guwahati, Vishakhapatnam, Thiruchirapalli, Mumbai, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Shimla and Jabalpur. "There is no proposal before the government to nationalize National Law Universities," said Minister of Communications and Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad in reply to a question raised by Member of Parliament Maneka Gandhi, "whether the Government proposes to nationalize the National Law Universities (NLUs) and providing them the same status as accorded to other National Institutes."
To Ms Gandhi's query on whether the Government is proposing to provide uniform academic standards and centralized funding to reckon with the problems in the NLUs, Mr Prasad replied, "the management of NLUs is done by them and the academic curriculum and standards is decided by them in consultation with the Bar Council of India." Mr Prasad also holds the Law and Justice portfolio.
Maneka Gandhi also sought a reply to whether the Government is planning to undertake measures to provide adequate complaint mechanism in NLUs keeping in mind the constant strikes and protests.
There are 21 National Law Universities at Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Kolkata, Jodhpur, Raipur, Gandhinagar, Lucknow, Patiala, Patna, Kochi, Odisha, Ranchi, Guwahati, Vishakhapatnam, Thiruchirapalli, Mumbai, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Shimla and Jabalpur.