Haryana initiates process to omit word 'Punjab' from its laws

Nearly 55 years after it was carved out as a separate state, Haryana has initiated the process to omit the word Punjab from its laws.

The state government has constituted a committee to remove Punjab from nearly 237 Acts on the initiative of state Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta.

Most of the acts are related to revenue and police departments and have the word Punjab in them, according to officials.

Haryana was carved out as a separate state from undivided Punjab on November 1, 1966, under the Punjab Reorganisation Act.

Haryana had adopted various acts which were already in force in undivided Punjab to run its administration. It was then resolved that the new state would be governed by the laws applicable in Punjab and it could make necessary amendments as per its requirements after two years.

While a majority of the acts were amended over the years, Gupta had last month mooted the proposal to omit Punjab from the remaining acts.

"Haryana is gearing up to do away with the name of the state of Punjab from its laws. The state government has constituted a Committee in this regard after the initiatives of Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Gian Chand Gupta,” a state government statement said here on Thursday.

The committee constituted under the chairmanship of the legal remembrancer and administrative secretary of the law and justice department will review and examine the amendment of the subtitles of the acts, it said.

The state government has informed the Haryana Vidhan Sabha Secretariat regarding the constitution of the committee which will submit its report to Haryana chief secretary, Vijai Vardhan, within a month.

According to the order issued by Vardhan, the members of this committee will include the officer on special duty (OSD), law and justice department, deputy secretary of the department of political and parliamentary affairs and OSD (rules) of general administration department.

“Haryana had inherited the laws which were in Punjab's name and the governance in Haryana has been based on these laws for the last over 54 years. The people of the state have been demanding to change the laws and add the name of Haryana,” the statement said.

Gupta had held a meeting with the officers of the state government and of the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat at the state Assembly Secretariat on September 24, in this regard.

The Speaker had instructed the chief secretary to formulate a plan to omit Punjab from all the state laws and the decision to constitute the committee was also taken in the meeting.