NEW DELHI, Nov 18:
The Law Commission today recommended repeal of a law which provides for jail term of up to five years for possession of copper telegraph wire even a year after telegram services were permanently shut down in the country.
The Commission, in its latest report to the government, has recommended repeal of another law, enacted during the Emergency, which provided that the procedure for disputing an election would not apply to elected representatives who went on to become the Prime Minister or Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
In its fourth interim report to the Law Ministry on obsolete laws, the law panel has recommended a total of 30 statutes which can be repealed as they have lost significance.
The Commission has so far recommended repeal of a total of 288 obsolete laws in its four reports.
The panel said the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1950 should be repealed after factual verification that such wires are not used for other purposes.
The Act, as available on the UP Police website, regulated the possession of telegraph wires between 2.43 mm and 3.52 mm diameter and provides for punishment of up to five years in jail or fine or both for the offence of unlawful possession of telegraph wires.
The report pointed out that telegraph services were permanently shut down in India in 2013.
Referring to the Disputed Elections (Prime Minister and Speaker) Act, 1977, the Law Commission said the “constitutionality” of this Act is “suspect”, therefore, it should be repealed.
The law provided that the general procedure for disputing an election by presenting an election petition to the High Court, would not apply where the elected representative went on to become the Prime Minister or Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
But, in cases where it applied to the PM or Speaker, election petitions questioning their elections would be heard by a single Judge of the Supreme Court, set up as a “separate authority” under this law. The decisions of the authority were final.
“Article 329A was inserted into the Constitution which allowed this distinction to be made. Both the amendment and this law were created during the time the Emergency proclamation was in place. Article 329A was subsequently removed through the 44th Amendment to the Constitution in 1978.
“Without Article 329A, this law is unconstitutional, since the Constitution does not allow a distinction to be made between the election disputes of different types of elected representatives. Hence, since the constitutionality of this Act is suspect, this Act should be repealed,” the report said.
Another law recommended for repeal is the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983 as it has been struck down by the Supreme Court and is not in use.
The Act instituted procedures to determine whether persons suspected to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh did, in fact, fall under that category, and expel them from India.
It was applicable only in Assam. The Act established Tribunals for determining whether a person is an illegal migrant. “Since the Act has been struck down by the Supreme Court and is not in use, it should be repealed,” the law panel said.
The NDA Government had introduced a bill in Lok Sabha during the Budget Session to repeal 36 — 32 amendment Acts and 4 principal Acts. The Repealing and Amending Bill, 2014 seeks to remove certain Amendment Acts and Principal Acts from the statute books as they have outlived their utility. (PTI)
This is the first time since 2001 that such an exercise is being undertaken by the Law Ministry to weed out outdated laws. (PTI)
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