Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Government on Monday introduced two Bills in the Assembly, seeking to repeal the controversial Tamil Nadu Essential Services Maintenance Act (TESMA) and the Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Act.
Introducing the Bills, Law Minister I Periyasamy said TESMA was used to dismiss 1.70 lakh Government servants, who were later reinstated into service after the intervention of the Supreme Court.
Even while granting the relief, the apex court had made it clear that it had not dealt with the grievances of the employees against various orders issued by the State Government affecting their service benefits.
As long as the Act continued to exist, there was bound to be apprehension and fear in the minds of Government servants, Periyaswmy said adding that legally also it had been considered that the provisions of the Act were draconian in nature and had already been challenged in courts.
Therefore, to instill a sense of confidence and to create a better understanding and congenial working atmosphere, it was considered necessary to repeal the Act, the Minister said.
On the Bill to repeal the Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Act, Periyasamy said the prohibition was enforced through promulgation of an ordinance on October 5 2002, which was subsequently replaced by an Act.
However, when a decision to repeal the Act was taken on May 18, 2004 and an ordinance promulgated on the same day, it had not been replaced by a Bill, and had since lapsed.
Hence, the Government had decided to repeal the Anti-Conversion Act by introducing a Bill in the current session of the Assembly, he said.
Both the Bills will come up to voting on May 31.
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