Arunachal: State cabinet approves Arunachal Pradesh Tenancy Bill, 2022 

Arunachal Chief Minister Pema Khandu today i.e., on Friday (August 26, 2022), chaired the state cabinet meeting through video conferencing from Delhi and approved the Arunachal Pradesh Tenancy Bill, 2022 which aims for creating a vibrant, sustainable and inclusive rental housing market in the State. 

The proposed legislation aims to strike a fair balance between the rights of tenants and landlords and to establish a responsible and transparent rental market. 

It intends to offer a quicker framework for resolving disputes and is anticipated to boost private investment in rental housing for addressing the housing crisis in the state in various income categories.

The Bill seeks to develop a nation with a thriving, sustainable, and inclusive rental housing market. It will make it possible to build enough rental housing stock for all income levels, so alleviating the homelessness crisis. Renter housing will be institutionalized by gradually moving toward the official market.

Additionally, the State Cabinet approved the introduction of the Arunachal Pradesh Goods and Services Tax (1st Amendment) Bill, 2022 to implement various provisions of the Arunachal Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, and to get it introduced and tabled for passage in the upcoming State Legislative Assembly Session. This will make the payment and receipt of taxes transparent, efficient, effective, and user-friendly.
The Arunachal Pradesh goods and services Tax Act, 2017, was passed with the intention of establishing rules for the government of Arunachal Pradesh's ability to impose and collect taxes on intra-state sales of goods, services, or both. 

The proposed (Amendment) Bill was required because the Central Government had already amended the various provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017, and the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) Act, 2017, of the relevant State, needed to be amended as well because all of the provisions are uniformly applied throughout the nation under GST.

Then the cabinet approved the proposal for amendment of the Arunachal Pradesh Civil Court Bill, 2021 with a direction to place the Bill in the ensuing Assembly Session of the Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly.

The Arunachal Pradesh Civil Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2022 once enacted and implemented would achieve the following objectives: 

1. To enable the Deputy Commissioners to transfer the pending appeals to the Courts of Civil Judge Junior Division, the Courts of Civil Judge Senior Division in addition to the Courts of Additional District Judge and the District Judge as per their territorial and pecuniary jurisdiction

2. To restore the organic link between the village Authority and Local Administrative Officers in facilitating and referring back of the cases by the local administrative officers to the village authority for settlement. 

3. To enable the inter-village customary court or apex customary court, by whatever name called to settle the appeal out of the order passed by village authority without directly approaching the regular courts, if the parties to the case agreed. This will lessen the workload of the regular courts, and

4. To enable the Deputy Commissioners and the Assistant Commissioners to execute and enforce the order or decree passed by the village Authority to make the system more efficacious. 

Finally, the cabinet approved changing the minimum qualification from "accredited under ICAR" to "B.Sc. (Agriculture) from any recognized university" in the Agriculture Development Officer/Agriculture Development Officer (Plant Protection) Recruitment Rules (RR) 2019.

As per the existing Recruitment Rules (RR), candidates who have passed out from Agriculture University not accredited by ICAR are not eligible for applying for the post of Agriculture Development Officer (ADO). This condition is depriving many students who have passed out from recognized Universities without ICAR accreditation. This will pave way for more agriculture graduates to compete in the examination.