Dr.JP's Letter to Speaker of Assembly

29th August 2009

Sri Kiran Kumar Reddy
Honorable Speaker
AP Legislative Assembly
Hyderabad

Esteemed Speaker Sri Kiran Kumar Reddy garu,

Kindly recall my formal opposition under Rule 96 (2) to the introduction of a Bill to amend The Andhra Pradesh Societies Registration Act, 2001 in the Legislative Assembly on August 28, 2009. Despite the clear and unambiguous provisions of the Constitution in Articles 19(1)(c), 19(4) and 13(2) prohibiting such an amendment, the State Government insisted on introducing the Bill. Now that the Bill has been introduced, it will be considered by the House whenever you allocate time for it.

The question all Opposition Parties raised is a fundamental one, and is unrelated to Government policy. The Opposition is objecting to the Bill on the ground that the House has no legislative competence to enact such a law abridging the Fundamental Rights enunciated in 19 (1)(c) of Part III of the Constitution. This is not a matter of policy, but a matter of Constitutional law. Therefore, the House needs to be guided by an appropriate authority while dealing with the Bill.

It is precisely to address such a situation that the Constitution has provided in Article 177 for the participation of the Advocate General in the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly. This is the very provision under which Ministers, who are members of the Legislative Council, can participate in Assembly proceedings. For instance, Sri K. Rosaiah, Hon’ble Minister for Finance and Legislative Affairs, is participating in the House proceedings under Article 177.

I, therefore, request you to invite the Advocate General to participate in the Assembly proceedings under Article 177 whenever the Bill comes up for consideration. In view of the importance of the issue, I am sharing this communication with the Leader of the House, the Minister for Legislative Affairs, the Minister for Endowments, Stamps and Registration, the Advocate General, all the Floor Leaders and the general public.

With warm personal regards,

Sincerely yours



Jayaprakash Narayan