Kolkata, Sep 18 (IANS): West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday sought response of the state assembly secretary to the contention of opposition parties that a bill on prevention of lynching circulated in the House was "not in consonance" with the one he had recommended for introduction in the assembly.
The Governor's letter to the state assembly secretary came in the wake of leader of the opposition Abdul Mannan and Leader of the Left Front Legislature Party Sujan Chakraborty along with other lawmakers calling on him on Tuesday and submitting a written representation on "grave irregularities and legislative improprieties" in respect of The West Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill, 2019.
"A letter from the Rajbhavan, Kolkata, as directed by the Hon'ble Governor, has been sent to the Secretary, West Bengal Legislative Assembly today, seeking his response to the contention of the representation made by Abdul Mannan, leader of the Opposition, and Sujan Chakraborty, leader of the Left Front Legislature Party to the effect that the the West Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill, 2019] circulated on 26.08.2019, was not in consonance with the Bill in respect of which the Governor imparted his recommendation for introduction of the Bill in the West Bengal Assembly," he said.
According to Raj Bhavan, Mannan and Chakraborty "indicated that the Bill placed in the House on August 30 was different from the draft copy of the Bill that was circulated among the members of the Assembly on August 26 and the one to which the Governor had recommended introduction".
"According to the opposition lawmakers, the reason for this cannot be a printing mistake and this is a serious lapse inasmuch as the change is in respect to insertion of 'death sentence' as the maximum quantum of punishment.
"The Governor, after hearing them, had indicated that he would look into the available records and if required, would go through the proceedings of the Assembly, even thereafter, if a situation is occasioned, he would seek inputs from the Speaker and the Advocate General," the Raj Bhavan statement said.