Raipur, Mar 21 (PTI) The Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly on Friday passed a bill to provide pension and other facilities to those detained under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during Emergency.
Chief Minister Vishnu Deo said there was already a rule in place to provide pension to MISA detainees (Lokantra Senani) in the state but it was decided to enact a law to ensure the scheme is governed by it and their interests can be protected.
The main opposition Congress raised objection over the bill and staged a walk out from the House.
Sai tabled the ‘Chhattisgarh Loktantra Senani Samman Vidheyak-2025’ in the House following which it was taken up for discussion.
Leader of Opposition Charan Das Mahant raised objection over the bill and asked if the House had the right to make laws or hold discussions in this context, adding it was not included in the State List.
Public order is included in the State List, but it does not include the Navy, Army, Air Force, Union, any other armed force or any other force under the control of the Union, he said.
According to Article 246 of the Constitution, the subjects which are within the jurisdiction of the state government to make laws are mentioned in point no 2 of the 7th Schedule of the Constitution and the Concurrent List is in point no 3, Mahant said.
There is no such subject in both these lists on which this bill can be considered and discussed here, he said.
Countering his objection, BJP MLA and former minister Ajay Chandrakar said the issue pertains to the social sector which is in concurrent list and the state can make laws related to this sector.
The Chair rejected the objection of the Congress MLAs and allowed the discussion on the bill.
Later, Mahant said the manner in which the government has presented this bill is against the Constitution and democracy, due to which his party MLAs walked out of the House.
Speaking on the bill, CM Sai termed the Emergency as a terrible tragedy of modern history and said June 25, 1975 will always be known as a black chapter in the history of India.
“On this day, the then prime minister imposed Emergency in the country for personal interest and put thousands of people in jail,” the CM said.
In Chhattisgarh, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Samman Nidhi Rules, 2008 was made during the BJP government (headed by Raman Singh who is incumbent state Assembly Speaker) and the process of giving honorarium (pension) to those detained under MISA DIR was started, Sai said.
“But ignoring the patriotism of Loktantra Senani, it was scrapped by the previous Congress government on 29 July 2020. However, our government through a notification dated March 7, 2024, restored the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Samman Nidhi Rules, 2008 to provide assistance to Loktantra Senani,” he said.
“We have also provisioned that loktantra senani will be given state honour during their final rites and their kin will be provided financial assistance of Rs 25,000 for the last rites. A provision of Rs. 42 crore has been made in the financial year 2024-25 to provide honorarium from the year 2019 till date to about 207 Loktantra Senanis and 128 dependents in the state,” Sai informed.
The Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan Samman Nidhi Rules, 2008 were made by the state government and it was published in the Chhattisgarh Gazette Extraordinary dated August 5, 2008, he said.
“Now the state government has decided to enact a law in place of the said rules so that along with providing honorarium, facilities and related subjects to the loktantra senani, their interests can be protected,” he said.
After the discussion, the bill was passed in the House in the absence of Congress members.
“There are around 350 MISA detainees in Chhattisgarh. These detainees were given pensions ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 per month in three different categories,” an official said. PTI TKP BNM
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