K'taka Council unanimously passes 6 Bills

Bangalore, Apr 12 (UNI) The Karnataka Legislative Council today unanimously passed six Bills, including the Karnataka Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Bill, 2007, seeking to check grabbing of land belonging to the State Government and its bodies.

Piloting the Bill, Home, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M P Prakash said it was being presented to replace the ordinance, issued a few weeks ago. The Bill would empower the State Government to punish those who had illegally grabbed land belonging to the State and curb unlawful activities relating to it.

Outlining the salient features of the Bill, he said it would empower the State Government to constitute a special court to conduct speedy trial and punish the guilty with imprisonment not less than one year. Over 800 cases had been filed in the Karnataka High Court and another 2,400 cases in lower courts relating to land grabbing and encroachment of Government land. Once the Bill came into effect, all these cases would be transferred to the special court for speedy disposal, he added.

Congress members H K Patil, V S Ugrappa, L Hanumanthaiah, Motamma, Pratapchandra Shetty and Saleem Ahmed, JD(S) members Srikante Gowda and Y S V Dutta, BJP's Vimala Gowda and JD(U) member Dr M P Nada Gouda also participated in the discussion. Later, the Bill was put to vote by the Chairman and passed by voice vote.

The Council also passed the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements (Amendment) Bill, 2007, the Karnataka Ports (Landing and Shipping Fees) (Amendment) Bill, 2007, the Karnataka Motor Vehicles Taxation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2007, the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Bill, 2006, and the Karnataka Land Revenue and Certain Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2007. All the Bills had been earlier passed by the lower house.

UNI