India News | Withdraw Electricity Bill, AIPEF Urges PM

Mathura, Nov 26 (PTI) The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking withdrawal of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 ahead of the winter session of Parliament.

The bill should not be tabled as proper procedure has not been adopted in formulating the legislation, a senior office bearer of AIPEF told reporters in a virtual press conference.

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"Please direct the authorities to rescind the decision of introduction of the bill in the current session of Parliament, beginning from November 29. Instead, adopt Pre Legislative Consultation Policy (PLCP) of Govt of India," AIPEF Chairman Shailendra Dubey said while disclosing the contents of the letter.

Direct introduction of the bill, skipping the PLCP, may lead to confrontation between the government and power sector employees, he added.

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Citing the example of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2014, Dubey said pre-legislative consultation was adopted then but the exercise proved futile as the term of the parliament expired and the bill was not passed.

If the present bill is introduced unilaterally, 15 lakh power sector employees and engineers across the country will have no option but to launch a nationwide stir till the bill is withdrawn, the letter to the Prime Minister stated.

A meeting of the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees & Engineers (NCCOEEE), slated for December 3, would decide the future course of action in case the government decides to go ahead and table the bill, officials of the federation said.

Listing the salient features of PLCP, a pre-condition before placing any bill in Parliament, the officials said it entails keeping the proposed legislation in public domain for at least 30 days to seek stakeholders' views.

Moreover, every draft legislation must have an explanatory note disclosing key legal provisions in simple language, apart from publishing feedback from the public on the website of the concerned ministry and consultation with all stakeholders, they added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)