New Delhi: In its eagerness to remove ‘Punjab’ from four existing Acts and replace them with ‘Haryana’, the Haryana government has violated constitutional provisions by changing the short title or name of four Central Acts without seeking the approval of the Union government.
Hemant Kumar, an advocate of the Punjab and Haryana high court, filed Right to Information applications with both the legislative departments of the Ministry of Law and Justice and brought the issue to light. He sought to ask if a state legislative assembly through the passage of a Bill can change the short title or name of any Central Act without seeking the approval of the Union government.
Kumar had also asked the legislative department if the governor of a state is competent to grant assent on such a Bill once it is passed.
New Act brought to replace ‘Punjab’ and ‘East Punjab’ with Haryana in 154 laws
The issue had its genesis in the Haryana Legislative Assembly passing the Haryana Short Titles (Amendment) Bill, 2021. Kumar said on March 31, 2021, the Bill also got the assent of the then governor, Satyadev Narain Arya, and consequently it became Haryana Act 15 of 2021 and got enforced with effect from April 5, 2021, the day it was published in the State Government Gazette.
The Act, he said, substituted the words Punjab and East Punjab with Haryana in Short Titles in a total of 154 laws which were enacted before November 1, 1966, that is before the formation of the state of Haryana.
Haryana was carved out of the joint Punjab via Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966 as enacted by Parliament of India, which had led to the formation of Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh with effect from November 1, 1966.
Following the enactment of the Haryana Short Titles Amendment Act, 2021, the names of four existing laws were changed but in some cases the amendment appeared to have made little sense.
For example, Kumar pointed out that the Act resulted in changing the name of Punjab Excise Act, 1914 (Punjab Act 1 of 1916) to Haryana Excise Act, 1914. However, Kumar said, even after such change, it would still be cited as Punjab Act 1 of 1914 as citation of the law via Act number and Year remains unchanged. Even otherwise, the above Act cannot be termed as Haryana Act 1 of 1914 since Haryana came into existence only with effect from November 1, 1966.
Haryana Act covered four Central laws without necessary permission
Kumar said it was while he was checking the Short Titles of all 154 laws where the words `Punjab’ and `East Punjab’ got substituted with the word Haryana that he came across four laws which bear the name Punjab but actually were not Punjab Acts but were rather Central Acts. These, he said, were the Punjab Laws Act, 1872; Punjab District Boards Act, 1883; Punjab Tenancy Act, 1887; and Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887.
However, Kumar said when he checked the official website of the legislative department under Union Ministry of Law and Justice, he saw that the above four Acts have been shown as Central Acts.
Thereafter Kumar filed an RTI with legislative department under Union Ministry of Law and Justice in December 2021 seeking complete information on this, including the copies of correspondence exchanged between the Central and Haryana governments as well as permission given by the Centre, if any, to Haryana. The department transferred his RTI to the Union home ministry, which is the nodal ministry to deal with amendments by states in Central laws.
`Centre had no information on Haryana changing short-titles of central enactments’
In his application, Kumar had also asked for the permission given by the Central government, if any, to the Haryana government over the latter making amendments in the four Central Acts through the state assembly that changed the short-title of these Acts. He had also sought this information from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Recently, the CPIO-cum-deputy secretary in the MHA replied that the information sought by the applicant is related to Government of Haryana and may be available with it. Accordingly, he said, the RTI has been transferred to the state chief secretary for providing information, if any, directly to the applicant. This, Kumar said, substantiates that the Central government has got no information about Haryana changing the Short-Titles of four Central enactments.
`States can amend Central laws only with Centre’s approval’
The lawyer-activist insisted that if the Haryana assembly wanted to change the Short Title of an Act which was actually a Central Act, then it could only do the same on obtaining the consent of the Central government. “Moreover, even after passage of appropriate Bill via Assembly in this regard, it would be not the State Governor but rather the President of India who would grant assent on such passed Bill since the amendment relates to a Central Act,” he pointed out.