JAMMU: The BJP along with members of the Panthers Party and Jammu State Morcha (JSM) staged a walkout in the Assembly on Saturday to protest against the introduction of the Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC) Amendment Bill.
A private member’s Bill moved by a PDP member in the Upper House was accepted by the government for discussion.
The Bill aims at debarring women of the state from the right to marry a non- PRC holder or any person in India who is not a PRC holder. Only permanent residents of the state are issued the PRC. The Bill, if passed, would debar women from applying for a government job and buying land; even her wards would not be able to apply for a seat in the professional colleges in the state.
Raising the issue in the zero hour, Ashwani Sharma of the JSM said it was discriminatory and his party would oppose it. On this, 11 members of the BJP and three members of the Panthers Party also protested over the introduction of the Bill.
Revenue Minister Raman Bhalla, who accepted the Bill in the Upper House for introduction, said the Bill had merely been introduced.
Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, leader of the BJP legislature party, said since the Congress minister had admitted that it had been accepted in the introductory stage, the party had been exposed on the issue. He said now it was for the government to make its stand clear.
Congress MLA and senior party leader Chowdhary Aslam said the Congress’s stand was clear and it was against the Bill.
Harshdev Singh of the Panthers Party asked why the government had admitted the Bill for introduction when it was a constitutional amendment and that such Bills should be introduced in the lower House only. He said his party was against the Bill. A similar Bill was passed by the Assembly in 2004 but following a national hue and cry and much to the embarrassment of the Congress, the party opposed it in the upper House and the Bill was deferred for further discussion and it subsequently lapsed.
The notification on the PRC was introduced by the then Maharaja Hari Singh in 1929. The notification was issued after the people of Jammu protested that the people from Punjab were occupying most of administrative posts. It said only those people who were residing in the state before Maharaja Gulab Singh would be considered permanent residents.
The Bill didn’t discriminate against those women marrying outside the state. In 1975, the then revenue minister Mirza Afzal Beig issued a notification, saying the PRC of a girl would be valid till her marriage and if she married a non- PRC, her PRC would be cancelled.
It was challenged in the court and the state High Court in its judgment in 2002 said the pro vision was discriminatory.
Now that the Bill has been introduced in the House, it will be debated on, discussed and has to be passed before it moves to the Lower House. The present strength of the lower House is 31. The NC has 14 members, Congress 13, PDP three and the Panthers Party one. So the Bill can’t be passed unless supported by the NC, which it may not do, but it had pressed for its acceptance in 2004 when it was in the opposition.
SOURCE-HT
