Assam Assembly Passes Bills For Women To Reserve 50% Seats In Municipalities

Guwahati: The Assam Assembly has passed two bills that reserve 50 percent seats for women for 10 years on rational basis in constituencies of the civic bodies in the state.

According to the first bill named the Assam Municipal (Third Amendment) Bill, 2021, passed on Thursday, 50 percent of the total number of seats to be filled up by direct election, including those reserved for women belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), in any municipality will be reserved for women.

As per the amendment to the Assam Municipal act, 1956, such seats will be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a municipality every 10 years.

Meanwhile, the Assembly also passed The Guwahati Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which extends the period of women reservation for up to ten years in the direct election of councillors.

The amendments to the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) Act, 1969, also seeks to levy harsh penal provisions for violations committed under the Act as most of the provisions for penalty do not serve as deterrents for violators now.

The amendments also propose to enable the government authority to raise the number of GMC wards as needed by publication in the official gazette.

According to another amendment bill introduced by Urban Development Minister Ashok Singhal, proposes the state government that it can choose the chief engineer of the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) from not below the position of superintending engineer (civil) of any department under it.

Earlier, the state PWD officers with the rank of superintending engineer were eligible for appointment as GMDA chief engineer.

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