Bill on Guj criminal code among 9 that get president's assent

Nine bills from eight states, including one on Gujarat's criminal procedure code amendment and another on West Bengal's industrial amendment draft, have got President Ram Nath Kovind's assent, officials said.
The Code of Criminal Procedure (Gujarat Amendment) Bill 2017, which allows undertrial prisoners to appear in the court through video conference instead of appearing before a judge physically, got approval from the president recently after much deliberations, a Home Ministry official said.
The amendment is being brought to ensure security of prisoners and minimum deployment of police personnel while producing undertrial prisoners before the courts.
Karnataka's two bills -- Minimum Wages (Karnataka Amendment) Bill 2017 and the Karnataka Maritime Board Bill 2015 -- also got assent from the president, the official said.

While the Karnataka wages bill seeks to provide for better wages to labourers from 23 industries, the maritime board bill proposes to set up an authority that will come up with ideas to initiate development projects at ports.
The Industrial Disputes (West Bengal Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Industrial Disputes (Jharkhand Amendment) Bill 2016 and the Industrial Dispute (Kerala Amendment) Bill 2016 were also given assent by the president, another official said.

The purpose of the three bills are to frame rules for the settlement of disputes between the management of industrial establishments and workmen, widen the set of employees covered by the laws and establish a grievance redressal committee in all industrial entities.

The other clauses include procedural frameworks for terminating employee services.
The Shri Krishna AYUSH University Kurukshetra Bill 2016 will facilitate establishment of an AYUSH university at Kurukshetra in Haryana.
The department of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) was created by the Narendra Modi government after it assumed power in 2014 for streamlining Ayurveda and promoting education and research in it.
The president has also given his assent to the Dentist (Andhra Pradesh Amendment) Bill 2017 and the Indian Stamp (Madhya Pradesh Amendment) Bill, 2016, the official said.