Letter to AP CM on Clinical Establishment Act by Dr.JP

7th April, 2018

Sri Nara Chandrababu Naidu
Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
Chief Minister’s Office, Block – I,
AP Secretariat, Velagapudi
Amaravati

Dear Sri Chandrababu Naidu garu,

I congratulate you on your wise decision to refer the Clinical Establishment Act, 2010 as enacted by Parliament under Article 252 of the Constitution to a Select Committee of the State Legislature.

At the request of the then Health Minister, Foundation for Democratic Reforms had held a series of consultations and discussions with stakeholders and prepared a draft Bill and sent it to the AP government. Kindly find enclosed our report and the draft Bill and background material.

In particular, I draw your attention to Article 252(2) of the Constitution: “Any Act so passed by Parliament may be amended or repealed by an Act of Parliament passed or adopted in like manner but shall not, as respects any State to which it applies, be amended or repealed by an Act of the Legislature of that State”

In light of this, if the State Legislature adopts the law of Parliament on a State subject, the State will have no power to amend or repeal the law; Parliament alone will have such power. In effect adopting a law of Parliament on a State subject under Article 252 means the State has voluntarily ceded the power of legislation on a State subject to Parliament and will have no capacity to legislate on the subject in future until Parliament repeals the law. This provision is entirely against the spirit of federalism and severely abridges the State’s powers even on a State subject under 7th Schedule.

Therefore I urge you not to adopt the law of Parliament, but to enact fresh legislation for the State of Andhra Pradesh on the lines prepared by Foundation for Democratic Reforms, which has taken a balanced position to protect public interest without creating a license raj and inhibiting private investment.

With warm regards,

Sincerely,

Jayaprakash Narayan