SHILLONG:
The Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security (Amendment) Bill (MRSSAB), 2020 is awaiting the assent of the President of India.
Governor Satya Pal Malik told a section of reporters on Friday that he had reserved the MRSSAB, 2020 for assent of the President of India and had accordingly sent it to the state government for necessary action.
On March 19, 2020, the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly had unanimously passed the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security (Amendment) Bill, 2020 which seeks to regulate the entry of people and their stay as tenants in the state.
Sources said that it is now the duty of the state government to send the Bill to the Centre for assent of the President.
“The governor has sought views from legal quarters and on that basis he has applied his mind. He wrote in the bill that it falls under the category of bills reserved for the President of India. The governor is of the opinion that it is not within his powers to pass this bill, which seeks to stop people from other parts of the country from coming to Meghalaya, as that kind of power is only vested with the President of India,” a source said.
The MRSSAB, 2020 stresses on the need to verify and regulate the entry of persons to Meghalaya and also regulate the tenants or any other persons residing in rented houses or any other places in the state apart from the existing provisions of the Principal Act.
The bill said that every person who intends to stay in the state of Meghalaya for more than 48 hours shall have to furnish information in the manner prescribed under the rules.
On December 16, last year, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong had said that the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act (MRSSA) may have to be repealed in case the Centre grants the Inner Line Permit (ILP) to the state.
Tynsong said that ILP is more or less similar to the MRSSAB, 2020 passed by the state legislative assembly.
“The provision is more or less the same so we need to implement either one, the MRSSAB, 2020 or ILP. If the Government of India says you implement MRSSAB, we will do so accordingly and if they say you take ILP, you don’t need MRSSAB, then we just repeal it, simple,” he had stated.
Last year, the Meghalaya High Court had also stated that the state cannot regulate the entry or movement of Indian citizens without indicating any parameters in the original MRSSA passed in 2016. On this, Tynsong had then stated that is why the objective of the MRSSAB was to incorporate a provision for setting up of check gates or entry points in every part of the state to facilitate the intention and spirit of the MRSSA.