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RS passes two Constitution amendment bills

The Rajya Sabha Thursday passed the Constitution (88th amendment) Bill, 1999, which allows states to relax qualifying marks in any examination or lower the standards of evaluation for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

The House passed the bill by a division vote, mandatory for constitutional amendment bills.

Constitution amendment bills have to be passed by a majority of the total membership of the House and a majority not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting.

The House also passed the Constitution (86th amendment) Bill, 1999 by a division vote.

The bill seeks to amend article 243M of the Constitution by inserting clause 3A which says that nothing in article 243D, relating to reservation of seats for the scheduled castes, shall apply to the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Article 243D provides for reservation for the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes in every panchayat. However, as the tribal society in Arunachal Pradesh is casteless, the new clause seeks to exempt Arunachal from the application of Article 243D.

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