Amendments to the PDPP Act, 1984
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 24, 2015
The Union Home Ministry has proposed a set of amendments to the PDPP act, 1984 that seek to deter prospective violators from damaging public property during agitations and also make the office bearers of the organizations calling for such agitations responsible for any damage. These amendments follow the recommendations made by the Justice K T Thomas committee setup by the Supreme Court while dealing with a writ petition on this issue.
Damage to Public Property during violent protests is common place across the country. Public Transport Buses and other Public Property are the first victims during such protests. The government of India now proposes to the amend the ‘Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984’ (PDPP) to put in place proper deterrents so as to prevent damage to public property.
The History
Taking a serious note of various instances where there was large scale destruction of public and private properties in the name of agitations, bandhs, hartals and the like, suo motu proceedings were initiated by a Bench of the Supreme Court in 2007. The court appointed two different committees, one headed by former supreme court judge, Justice K T Thomas and the other headed by Mr. Fali S Nariman. The Justice K T Thomas committee made the following recommendations.
The court accepted these recommendations. The court also issued certain guidelines for effecting preventive action. It said, as soon as a demonstration is organized,
The other committee made recommendations for Police to enforce their duties and to the media.
Major Amendments Proposed
The Union Home Ministry has accepted the recommendations of the Justice K T Thomas committee and has proposed amendments to the PDPP act, 1984 to deter prospective violators from vandalizing and destroying public/private property during agitations and other forms of protests. The proposed amendments also seek to deter the office bearers of the organizations who call for this protests/agitation. In this regard, it has issued a circular on 20 May, 2015.
What can we do?
If any of us have any suggestions/comments on these proposed amendments, we can do so by 20 July, 2015. The suggestions/comments can be sent to Ministry of Home Affairs, CS Division, 5 Floor, NDCC Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi -110001. The suggestions can also be sent on email to dircs1-mha@mha.gov.in
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