Acting on a request by the Leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee, West Bengal Assembly Speaker H A Halim today deferred the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (Second Amendment) Bill-2010, scheduled to be passed today, till the next session.
The Bill will go to Standing Committee for scrutiny and review, the Speaker said in his ruling after hearing the Housing Minister Goutam Deb's opinion on the request by Chatterjee.
After the Chair informed Deb about the request by the Leader of the Opposition, Deb agreed to defer the presentation of the Bill and left the decision to the chair. Deb said that it was not a practice in the House to defer any Amendment Bill.
The next session in the House is likely to be at February end, when Vote-on-Account would be passed.
Deb said that the Bill was prepared to raise property tax from residents of New Town for maintainance and upkeep, besides providing quality civic service in the area.
The Centre, which has included New Town under its JNNURM project, had also asked for introduction of property tax in New Town as a precondition to receive central funds for its development.
Deb later told reporters that he would ask the Centre why the state government had to be opposed by the opposition Trinamool Congress and Congress, partners of the UPA government, on the initiative to raise property tax through a legislation acting on Central guidelines.
Deb also strongly criticised the the opposition Trinamool Congress members who were not present in the House.
“Without being present in the House they channelised their views through the Speaker and got their views recorded in the proceedings of the House,” Deb said, adding that it was unprecedented.
