Governor reserves bill that regulates people’s entry to Meghalaya for President Kovind's assent

The MRSSAB 2020, stressed on the need to verify and regulate the entry of persons to Meghalaya and also to monitor and regulate tenants or any other persons residing in rented houses or any other places in the state apart from the existing provisions of the Principal Act.

Governor Satya Pal Malik has reserved the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security (Amendment) Bill (MRSSAB), 2020, which seeks to regulate the entry of people and their stay as tenants in the state, for assent by the President of India.

“After having gone through the bill and having all queries answered, I have chosen to reserve it for the President’s assent,” Malik told HT on Friday adding, “The bill is now awaiting the assent of the President of India,” while explaining that the President’s assent is required since it involves both central and state laws.

The governor said that he has accordingly sent back the MRSSAB 2020 Bill to the state government for necessary action, indicating that it is now the government that will have to follow procedure and dispatch it to Rashtrapati Bhavan.

On March 19, 2020, the Meghalaya legislative assembly unanimously passed the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security (Amendment) Bill, 2020.

“The governor has sought views from legal quarters and on that basis, he has applied his mind. He wrote in the bill that it falls under the category of bills reserved for the President of India. The governor is of the opinion that it is not within his powers to pass this bill, which seeks to stop people from other parts of the country from coming to Meghalaya so that kind of power is only vested with the President of India,” a senior Raj Bhavan official said.

The bill further says that any person who wilfully fails to furnish the information or provides false formation as required as per section 4A shall be liable to be punished under section 176 and /or section 177 (knowingly furnishing false information to a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

“Provided that the first offense under this section shall be punishable only by imposition of a fine as provided in the Indian Penal Code, 1860,” it says.