Black Magic Bill still lost in transit

Over 48 hours have elapsed, but still the file containing the Black ordinance has not reached the Governor’s office

Even 48 hours after it grandly announced the decision to issue an ordinance for the Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Bill in wake of activist Dabholkar’s murder, the State Government has not yet sent it to the Governor’s office.

Significantly, while sanctioning the Bill, the State has removed two important provisions as compared to the original bill presented earlier.

As per the 5th article of the Bill, provisions related to trust or company have been removed. This article was used to hold responsible the company or trust and persons working in responsible positions.

But as all temples are reg- istered under the Charity Commissioner’s act, it was being feared that trustees and managements running temples will have to face the brunt of the bill. As all important temples are being controlled directly or indirectly by politicians or powerful persons, they were opposed to the Bill. After pressure from this lobby, the Cabinet has removed the provisions.

In article 13, it was clarified that the act which does not physically or economically harm anybody will not be a crime as per this act. Though provision was very good to clarify the intent of the bill, some sections took objection to this article. This provision too was removed from the ordinance proposed to be promulgated.

Rajbhavan waiting for Bill

The State Cabinet which met on Wednesday sanctioned the Anti-Superstitions Bill and decided to send it to the Governor on the same day requesting him to sign on the dotted line. But even after 48 hours, the state government has failed to send the file to Governor K. Shankarnarayanan.

This Bill comes under the Social Justice department. Despite several calls and smses, R D Shinde, Secretary of the department failed to reply back and could not confirm the status of the file.

The minutes of the cabinet meetings were signed by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Wednesday evening and thereafter the process started. The Law and Judiciary department (L &JD) prepared the ordinance of the bill in Marathi and English. The L & JD has prepared the ordinance draft and sent for the further process to the Social Justice department. After Governor’s signature, the file will come to L &JD again and they will send the ordinance to publish in official gazette. The delay by government has once again raised doubts about the political will of the ministers especially of CM Chavan, DCM Ajit Pawar and Social Justice Minister Shivaji Moghe.