Haryana assembly passes 4 more Bills

The Haryana assembly on Tuesday passed four more Bills, including the Haryana lease of agricultural land Bill, 2024, for providing a mechanism for recognition of leasing of agricultural land and to permit lease of agricultural land, protecting the ownership rights of landowners.
As per the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill, it is an established practice that agricultural land is leased out by the landowner. But due to the apprehension that the lessee may demand occupancy rights, the lessor often replaces the lessee every year or keep the land barren, which damages agricultural production. The lessor also hesitates to execute the lease in writing and prefers to enter into a non-written agreement with the lessee. As a result of this, the lessee is deprived of receiving any relief from the central or state government during natural calamities and is unable to raise a crop loan. For making optimum use of land resources and to protect the interest of both the lessor and lessee, a legal arrangement of giving land on lease money was felt necessary, the statement said.
The House also passed Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (Haryana amendment) Bill, 2024, to amend section 23 of the central law pertaining to sentences which magistrates may pass. As per the amendment Bill passed by the assembly, the sum of penalty which the court of a first-class magistrate may pass under section 23 (2) has been increased to ₹five lakh instead of existing ₹50,000. The sum of penalty under section 23 (3) has been increased from ₹10,000 to ₹1 lakh.
The statement of objects and reasons of the Bill said that under certain Acts like the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, the objective of imposition of fine instead of sentence cannot be achieved due to maximum limit of fine prescribed under sections 23 (2) and 23(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita as the amount involved in cheque bounce cases may be much higher than the fine, which can be imposed under the above sections. Further, for the violations of traffic rules, fines have been increased under the Motor Vehicles Act. The maximum limits of fines under the aforesaid provisions are also not in commensurate with the sentence, which can be imposed under the above said provisions. Therefore, it has become necessary to increase the limit of fine prescribed under sections 23(2) and 23(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, the statement said.
The assembly also passed the Haryana Appropriation (number 3) Bill, 2024, to authorise payment and appropriation of certain further sums from and out of the consolidated fund of the state government for the services during the financial year ending on the March 31, 2025.
The assembly also passed the Haryana Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2024, on the basis of recommendations made by the GST Council and on the lines of amendments carried out in the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, by Finance Act, 2024.