SHILLONG: As the Governor has not approved the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security (Amendment) Ordinance 2019, the state government has hinted that the ordinance would be finally regularised in the upcoming budget session.
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong on Wednesday said that the governor has not yet approved the ordinance passed by the cabinet last year.
Explaining the procedure, Tynsong said that once the ordinance is recommended by the government to the governor and if the ordinance is not approved, the government would have to bring the ordinance to the House for regularising it.
The norm is that an ordinance will have to be regularised within six months.
“As the session is starting from March 13, and there is no approval as yet, it would lapse by itself and we will have to regularise the ordinance,” Tynsong said.
When asked about the Act which has to go to the governor again for the assent, Tynsong said that as per the Constitution of India, provisions of ordinance is recommended by the state cabinet whereas a Bill passed by the Assembly means it is final.
However, a legal expert said that the approval of the governor is necessary for any Bill passed by the Assembly to become valid and take effect.
The MDA government had approved the amendment of the Meghalaya Residents, Safety and Security Act (MRSSA), 2016 in the form of the ordinance to register outsiders coming into the state.
As per the new Act, any person who is not a resident of Meghalaya and intends to stay more than 24 hours in the state will have to furnish information to the government even as it claimed that this is done for their (outsiders) own interest as well as for the interest of the government and people of Meghalaya.
As per the Act, for registration, people will have to comply with certain rules and in case of violation, any person who willfully fails to furnish the information or provides false information will be liable to be punished under the section of 176 or 177 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
However, CoMSO which is spearheading the movement for ILP in the state earlier had maintained that they are not concerned about the Act anymore and they want only ILP to be implemented in the state.
The move of the government to implement MRSSA in the state has also drawn the flak from the people in tourism sector who allege that the government has not taken them into confidence before coming up with their intent to amend the Act.
