West Bengal Passes Bill Blocking No-Confidence Motions in Panchayats for 3 Years

The Bill was not originally scheduled to be placed before the House. However, during the closing hours of the last day of the Budget Session, a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee was convened in the chamber of the Speaker, Biman Bandopadhyay, and it was decided that the Bill would be tabled before the House prior to adjournment.

Under the provisions of the Bill, no no-confidence motion can be moved before three years against the president and vice-president of the Zilla Parishad, the president and vice-president of the Panchayat Samiti, and the head and deputy head of the Gram Panchayat.

Earlier, the law prohibited a no-confidence motion against the office-bearers concerned for two-and-a-half years. With the introduction of the new Bill, the period has now been increased to three years.

According to West Bengal Panchayat Affairs and Rural Development Minister Pradip Majumdar, the amendment has been brought to maintain stability in the three-tier panchayat system in the State.

However, the legislative wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opposed the hurried placement of the Bill by convening the Business Advisory Committee meeting during the final hours of the session.

BJP legislator Arup Kumar Das alleged that rather than ensuring stability in the panchayat system, the real intention behind the amendment was to secure political stability within the ruling Trinamool Congress.

"Otherwise, the Bill would not have been passed in such a hurried manner, and that too just a couple of months before the forthcoming Assembly elections in the State," Das said.

The Bill will now be forwarded to the office of the West Bengal Governor, C. V. Ananda Bose, for his assent.

- IANS