The Manmohan Singh government is racing against time to push the Communal Violence (Prevention,Control and Rehabilitation) Bill,2005 this Budget Session as it is still held up with the Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council (NAC),which is in the process of re-drafting the entire proposed legislation. While the Bill is listed in the business of Parliament this session and is top on the priority list of the Prime Ministers Office,Home Ministry and the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry,it is expected to be put up before the House only in the next Monsoon Session at the very earliest,after clearance from the NAC. Replying to a Home Ministry letter reminding the NAC of President Pratibha Patils promise of early passage of the Communal Violence Bill in her address to Parliament last February,its Secretary,Rita Sharma,wrote back to North Block,on January 18, that due to the complex nature of issues involved,the working group of NAC members was still deliberating on the legislation. She said that the drafting exercise is being rigorously pursued and was expected to be finalised in February 2011. In the meantime,both the PMO and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister,ostensibly oblivious to the state of play,have written to the Home Minister for pushing the Bill on a priority basis. Replying to an e-mail from The Indian Express to Sharma on the subject,NACs Joint Secretary K Raju said: The current information that you had requested for is available on the NAC website. It is a work in progress and as mentioned in the website the Draft Bill is expected to be placed before the NAC by the Working Group by February,2011. After consideration,NAC will take a decision with regard to placing the same in the public domain. The proposed legislation has been stuck for various reasons including proactive intervention of NAC. The Bill was sent to the Standing Committee on December 7,2005,which submitted its final report on December 12,2006. The Bill,drafted by the Home Ministry,was cleared by the Union Cabinet in December 2009. However,on August 19,2010,NAC Chairperson Sonia Gandhi wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stating that the Bill needed more consultations with the stakeholders despite the 80 amendments. Sonia suggested that the Bill be re-drafted by NAC in consultations with legal experts and concerned ministries. In the meantime,Shabnam Hashmi,Vrinda Grover,Uma Chakravarti,Farah Naqvi and Harsh Mander,three of whom are now involved in the NAC drafting exercise,drafted a Bill on their own and gave separate copies to the Home Ministry and the NAC in November 2010. Vrindra Grover,according to NAC website,is now a member of the drafting committee,Naqvi and Mander are convenors of the drafting committee of the Communal Violence Bill. The Bill drafted by them tests the federal limits of Indian Constitution for the following reasons: * It proposes that crimes of sexual assault should be part of the communal violence bill. * It proposes setting up of National,State,District Communal Harmony Justice and Reparation Commissions (CHJRC) that will be responsible for independent monitoring and oversight in case communal violence breaks out. * It proposes setting up of a National CHJRC,which will be chaired by a retired High Court Judge and have 10 other members. All these will be appointed in consultation with the Chairman,NHRC. * The CHJRC will take over the district where communal violence has flared up from the state government and will have the power to call for more central security forces as well as strict monitoring of communication. It will also be involved in naming the lawyers as well as compensation and rehabilitation of victims. While the Home Ministry waits for NAC to send the re-drafted Communal Violence Bill,the Manmohan Singh Government will find it extremely difficult to pass the legislation in Parliament if it is remotely similar to the one suggested last November.
