Rajnath reviews status of state bills, ordinances

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday reviewed the status of "state legislations/bills/ordinances" which the state governments sent to his ministry for obtaining assent of President Pranab Mukherjee, an official release said.

The ministry has settled 100 of 162 bills and ordinances and initiated action on the remianing 62, it said.

"During the review, it was pointed out that as on June 1, 2014, about 100 such bills/legislations were pending. Another fresh 62 bills/legislations were received since June 1, 2014, taking the total to 162," the release said.

The minister was informed that the ministry has settled 100 references since June 1, 2014 and out of the remaining 62, 27 were referred back to the state governments for clarifications. Another 27 bills were circulated to the different central ministries/departments for their comments.

Of the remaining eight bills, four were being processed in the ministry and the remaining four were with the law and justice ministry for their vetting.

Rajnath Singh also decided to write to the chief ministers to expedite the state legislations referred back to the state governments by the ministry.

"The home minister is requesting for the personal attention of the chief ministers for expeditious response so that the MHA may take a final decision on the matter," the release said.

The release said that the minister was informed about web-based software through which state governments would be able to send the bills electronically to the ministry, which, in turn, will send the bills to the central ministries/departments concerned electronically for comments.

"The entire process of exchange of information/consultation will thus be online which will fast-track the process to a great extent. All the state governments/central ministries/departments will be informed of the development of the system and provided with individual user ID and password," the release said.