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Punjab Govt courts shame again
on illegal travel agents law
WSN Network
CHANDIGARH: The
Parkash Singh Badal government has decided to promulgate a Punjab
Prevention of Human Trafficking Ordinance, 2009, to curb the
deceitful practices of unscrupulous travel agents duping "foreign
crazy" youth.
The Chief
Minister gave approval to the draft ordinance on September 1 for
placing before the Council of Ministers. After Cabinet nod, the
draft will be referred to the Legal Rememberancer for final shape,
following which it will be submitted to the Punjab Governor for
consent.
"As the matter
was of great urgency and the State Legislative Assembly was not in
session, it has been decided to promulgate Prevention of Human
Trafficking Ordinance 2009," the state government said in an
affidavit filed on Friday in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. This
is yet another undertaking of the government, which had once given a
statement before the high court that it would table a Bill in the
Vidhan Sabha "during the Budget Session in February-March 2009."
On Friday, it
also tendered an "unqualified apology" before the Division Bench of
Chief Justice T.S. Thakur for the delay, which it said was "not
deliberate" but "solely circumstantial."
This was for the
second time in less than a year that the Badal government tendered
an unqualified apology on the issue. In December last year, the
government through an affidavit had taken the stand that the Cabinet
Sub Committee had finalised the proposed draft of the Act on
July 15, 2008,
which had been sent to the Legal Rememberancer for vetting.
However, on
December 10, 2008, the government backtracked from its earlier
position.
In the affidavit
submitted on Friday, Principal Secretary (Home Affairs and Justice)
A.R. Talwar explained at length the reasons behind the delay, for
which it was earlier imposed a penalty of Rs 25,000. The legislation
has been hanging fire despite the fact that it was first conceived
during the previous Congress regime.
9
September 2009
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