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Yesterday, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released a draft Bill to address incidences of violence against healthcare professionals and damage to the property of clinical establishments. Public comments on the draft Bill are invited till the end of September. In this context, we discuss key provisions of the draft Bill below.
What does the draft Bill seek to do?
The draft Bill prohibits any acts of violence committed against healthcare service personnel including doctors, nurses, para medical workers, medical students, and ambulance drivers, among others. It also prohibits any damage caused to hospitals, clinics, and ambulances.
Under the draft Bill, violence means any act which may cause: (i) harm, injury or danger to the life of a healthcare service personnel, while discharging their duty, (ii) obstruction or hindrance to healthcare service personnel, while discharging their duty, and (ii) loss or damage to any property or documents in a clinical establishment.
What are the penalties for committing such acts of violence?
Currently, the Indian Penal Code, 1860 provides for penalties for any harm caused to an individual or any damage caused to property. Further, the Code prescribes penalties for causing grievous hurt i.e., permanent damage to another individual. The draft Bill additionally specifies penalties for similar offences caused to healthcare professionals and clinical establishments.
Under the draft Bill, any person who commits violence, or abets such violence may be punished with imprisonment between six months to five years, along with a fine of up to five lakh rupees. However, if any person causes grievous hurt to a healthcare service professional, he will be imprisoned for a period between three years to ten years, along with a fine between two lakh rupees and Rs 10 lakh. Note that, currently under the Indian Penal Code, 1860, an individual who commits grievous hurt is punishable with imprisonment of up to seven years, along with a fine.
In addition to the punishment for offences committed under the draft Bill, the convicted person will also be liable to pay compensation to the affected parties. This includes: (i) payment of twice the amount of the market value of the damaged property, (ii) one lakh rupees for causing hurt to healthcare service personnel, and (iii) five lakh rupees for causing grievous hurt to healthcare service personnel. In case of non-payment of compensation, the amount may be recovered under the Revenue Recovery Act, 1890. The Act provides for recovering certain public arrears by attaching the property of an individual.
How will these cases of violence be investigated?
All offences under the draft Bill will be cognizable (i.e., a police officer can arrest without a warrant) and non-bailable. An aggrieved healthcare service professional can write a request to the person-in-charge of the clinical establishment to inform the police of an offence committed under the draft Bill. Further, any case registered under this Bill will be investigated by a police officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police.
This Bill is currently in the draft stage and has been released for comments by stakeholders and experts in the field. The draft will be revised to incorporate such suggestions. Note that, comments can be emailed to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare at us-ms-mohfwnic.in by the end of September.
The core group of secretaries on disinvestment has recently approved the disinvestment of five public sector undertakings (PSUs). This includes the entire shareholding of the government in four PSUs: Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) and THDC (operates and maintains the Tehri Hydro Power Complex), and 30% of the shareholding in Container Corporation of India Limited (Concor). The government currently holds 54.8% of Concor, so the sale will reduce its stake below 25%.
Over the last few years, the government has removed legislative barriers towards privatisation of several other PSUs. This raises the question whether the government plans to privatise them.
What was the Supreme Court’s order on privatisation of PSUs?
In 2003, a similar proposal had been raised by the government for the sale of its shareholding in HPCL and BPCL. This proposal was challenged in the Supreme Court on the grounds that it would violate the provisions of the laws that transferred ownership of certain assets to the government (which later formed these PSUs). For example, BPCL was formed by nationalising Burmah Shell in India through an Act of Parliament, and merging their refinery and marketing companies. The Court ruled that the central government cannot proceed with the privatisation of HPCL and BPCL (i.e., reduce its direct or indirect ownership below 51%) without amending the concerned laws. So the government continues to hold majority stake directly in BPCL, and indirectly in HPCL ( through ONGC, another PSU).
The five Companies approved for privatisation include BPCL and SCI (into which two nationalised companies, the Jayanti Shipping Company, and the Mogul Line Limited were merged). The relevant nationalisation Acts have been repealed over the last five years.
How did the government remove the legislative barriers for privatisation?
Between 2014 and 2019, Parliament passed six Repealing and Amending Acts which repealed around 722 laws. These included laws that had transferred the ownership of companies to the central government which later formed BPCL, HPCL, and OIL. These also repealed the laws that had transferred ownership of the companies to the central government which were later merged with the SCI. This implies that now the government can go ahead with the privatisation of these government companies as the conditions imposed by the Supreme Court’s order have been fulfilled. These Repealing and Amending Acts also repealed several other nationalisation laws that were later formed into PSUs. In the Table below, we have listed some of these companies. Note that the Law Commission of India (2014) had suggested the repeal of several of these laws (including the Esso Act, the Burmah Shell Act, the Burn Company Act) on the grounds that these laws do not serve any purpose with respect to the nationalised entity. However, it had suggested that a study of all the nationalisation Acts should be done before repealing these Acts, and if necessary a savings clause should be provided in the repealing Act.
Did Parliament scrutinise these Acts before passing them?
Many of these repeals were made through the Repealing and Amending Act, 2016. These include the Acts relating to BPCL, HPCL, OIL, Coal India Limited, SCI, National Textiles Corporation, Hindustan Copper and Burn Standard Company Limited. The Bill was not referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee, and was passed after a cursory debate (50 minutes in Lok Sabha and 20 minutes in Rajya Sabha). Similarly, the two Acts passed in 2017, that enable privatisation of SAIL, PowerGrid, and State Trading Corporation were not examined by a Standing Committee.
So what comes next?
The repeal of these Acts have cleared the legislative hurdle for privatisation of these companies. That is, the government does not need prior approval of Parliament to sell its shareholding. Therefore, it is now up to the government to decide whether it wishes to privatise these entities.
A version of this article was published by the Business Standard on October 20, 2019.
Table 1: Some Nationalisation Acts repealed since 2014 (list not exhaustive)
|
Company |
Act being repealed |
Repealing Act |
|---|---|---|
|
Shipping Corporation Of India (SCI) |
The Jayanti Shipping Company (Acquisition of Shares) Act, 1971 |
Repealing and Amending Act, 2016 |
|
The Mogul Line Limited (Acquisition of Shares) Act, 1984 |
||
|
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) |
The Burmah Shell (Acquisition of Undertakings in India) Act, 1976 |
Repealing and Amending Act, 2016 |
|
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) |
The Esso (Acquisition of Undertakings in India) Act, 1974 |
Repealing and Amending Act, 2016 |
|
The Caltex [Acquisition of Shares of Caltex Oil Refining (India) Limited and of the Undertakings in India of Caltex (India) Limited] Act, 1977 |
||
|
The Kosangas Company (Acquisition of Undertaking) Act, 1979 |
||
|
Coal India Limited (CIL) |
The Coking Coal Mines (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1971 |
Repealing and Amending Act, 2016 |
|
The Coal Mines (Taking Over of Management) Act, 1973 |
||
|
The Coking Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1972. |
Repealing and Amending (Second) Act, 2017 |
|
|
The Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973. |
||
|
Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) |
The Bolani Ores Limited (Acquisition of Shares) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1978 |
Repealing and Amending (Second) Act, 2017 |
|
The Indian Iron and Steel Company (Acquisition of Shares) Act, 1976 |
||
|
Power Grid Corporation of India Limited |
The National Thermal Power Corporation Limited, the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited and the North-Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (Acquisition and Transfer of Power Transmission Systems) Act, 1993. |
Repealing and Amending (Second) Act, 2017 |
|
The Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited (Acquisition and Transfer of Power Transmission System) Act, 1994. |
||
|
Oil India Limited (OIL) |
The Burmah Oil Company [Acquisition of Shares of Oil India Limited and of the Undertakings in India of Assam Oil Company Limited and the Burmah Oil Company (India Trading) Limited] Act, 1981 |
Repealing and Amending Act, 2016 |
|
State Trading Corporation of India Ltd. (STC) |
The Tea Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Sick Tea Units) Act, 1985 |
Repealing and Amending Act, 2017 |
|
National Textile Corporation Limited (NTC) |
The Sick Textile Undertakings (Taking Over of Management) Act, 1972 |
Repealing and Amending Act, 2016 |
|
The Textile Undertakings (Taking Over of Management) Act, 1983 |
||
|
The Laxmirattan and Atherton West Cotton Mills (Taking Over of Management) Act, 1976 |
||
|
Hindustan Copper Limited |
The Indian Copper Corporation (Acquisition of Undertaking) Act, 1972 |
Repealing and Amending Act, 2016 |
|
Burn Standard Co Ltd |
The Burn Company and Indian Standard Wagon Company (Nationalisation) Act, 1976 |
Repealing and Amending Act, 2016 |
|
Indian Railways |
The Futwah-Islampur Light Railway Line (Nationalisation) Act, 1985 |
Repealing and Amending Act, 2016 |
|
Braithwaite & Co Limited, Ministry of Railways |
The Braithwaite and Company (India) Limited (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1976. |
Repealing and Amending (Second) Act, 2017 |
|
The Gresham and Craven of India (Private) Limited (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1977 |
||
|
Andrew Yule & Co. Ltd. |
The Brentford Electric (India) Limited (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1987 |
Repealing and Amending (Second) Act, 2017 |
|
The Transformers and Switchgear Limited (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1983 |
Repealing and Amending Act, 2019 |
|
|
Alcock Ashdown (Guj) Limited, Government of Gujarat Undertaking |
The Alcock Ashdown Company Limited (Acquisition of Undertakings) Act, 1973. |
Repealing and Amending Act, 2019 |
|
Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (BCPL) |
The Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works Limited (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1980 |
Repealing and Amending (Second) Act, 2017 |
|
Organisations under Department of Pharmaceuticals |
The Smith, Stainstreet and Company Limited (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1977 |
Repealing and Amending (Second) Act, 2017 |
|
The Bengal Immunity Company Limited (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1984. |
Sources: Repealing and Amending Act, 2015; Repealing and Amending (Second) Act, 2015; Repealing and Amending Act, 2016; Repealing and Amending Act, 2017; Repealing and Amending (Second) Act, 2017; Repealing and Amending Act, 2019.
