SUB EDITORIAL

THE LACUNA IN AIPEF APPROACH TO THE STRUGGLE AGAINST ELECTRICITY Bill 2003

The Secretary General (AIPEF) Er. Shailendra Dubey has written to His Excellency Shri A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India requesting him to refer the Bill to the Supreme Court as it is violative of the constitution which is the handy work of bureaucrats and collaborators within the government who are loyal and subservient to the World/IMF/ADB dictates. He has pointed out that the Electricity Bill-2003 violates the core principles of the constitution of India "as a sovereign, socialist, secular democratic republic" and also violative of the principles of "equality of status and opportunity" contained in the preamble of the constitution.

It is well-known that the President of India has constitutional limitations and will have to append his signatures for the bills passed by the parliament in normal course. At rare occasions if the President thinks that some modification is necessary he can send back the Bill to the Government for reconsideration. But again the government’s say will be final and he has to give his assent. In this case there is no possibility of getting the bill referred to the Supreme Court by the President.

The key to halt the implementation and force them to bring in a new law is to take the issue to the real authorities i.e, the people of India whose resistance can force the government to retrace its steps. For that it is very necessary to attract the people’s attention nationwide about the adverse impacts of the stipulations in the Electricity Law 2003 for which a united struggle should be launched by Electricity Employees and Engineers. But when the question of struggle comes, the leadership of AIPEF shrinks its responsibilities and wriggles out under this or other pleas. We submit that in the present day circumstances the attack against the officers and workers are equal besides our duty to the people are also the same and therefore unity and united action is the order of the day.

While we are thankful to the All India Power Engineers Federation for openly coming out against the Bill squarely pointing out its drawbacks which will tell upon the power development of the country, and its adverse impact on our nation’s progress, we appeal to them to come forward for united resistance against this government policies.