Reacting to the Supreme Court striking down the 97th Constitution Amendment Act on Tuesday, the veteran co-operator from Gujarat and former Chairman of NCUI G H Amin said that the Central government should take the matter seriously and help us in solving the discrepancies.
“Uniformity in cooperative acts across the country should be ensured so that there is transparency, and the cooperative movement gets stronger. Eliminating loopholes, the government should reintroduce the act in the Parliament”, he said on the phone.
Recalling the making of the draft of 97th CAA, Amin said, “In 2007 the Congress government had made a five-member committee in which being a Chairman of the apex body, I was also one of the members. It took two years for making draft recommendations for constitutional amendment and we had consulted with the top co-operators across the country”.
He further added that, later on in 2009, we had submitted the draft bill to then Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and he asked us to talk with opposition, so that it can be easily passed in the Parliament. Then I met L K Advani and apprised him of the situation. Advani listened to me patiently and said that we don’t want to do politics on Cooperative matters”, Amin informed.
Then the bill was presented in both houses of Parliament and it was passed. Later on the government had taken the consent from respective states but the Supreme Court observed that it should be passed by respective state legislative assemblies Due to procedural lapses all efforts had gone in vain, he said with a tinge of sadness.
Now, if the government seriously wants to pass this constitutional amendment, they should re-think and start the process again from the initial stage, Amin concluded