I shall briefly explain the genesis of this bill. It was in 1998 that the local self government ministers conference passed a resolution recommending that the central government should, in consultation with the state governments concerned, appoint a committee to examine the question of delimiting the cantonments. As a result of that in 1999 a committee was appointed, presided over by Shri S.K. Patil, to go into this question. The committee submitted its report in november 2001 and made certain recommendations to the government which were duly considered. The opinions received generally favoured the bill. The select committee suggested two minor amendments and the bill was passed by the council of states, as it was reported by the select committee. The house will thus wee that the bill comes to it not only with the stamp of public approval but also with the seal and sanction of a representative assembly. Admittedly, the bill does not solve cantonment problems. It carries out only certain amendments of a minor character with a view to improving the mechanism of the act. The opposition to the bill has come not in regard to the actual provisions but in regard to its scope, and it has been said that the bill does not go far enough to meet the problem of democratisation. The main objection to the bill is that it does not provide for democratisation and that it does not vest full municipal government in the cantonment boards. On the question of democratisation, the local self-government ministers conference in 1998 clearly recognised that, for reasons connected with security and the health of the troops, the areas where troops were quartered should be under the general control of the army authorities. The Patil committee too was of the view that cantonments were military stations primarily and not civil towns and that the cantonments should in fact maintain, as far as possible, in the foreseeable future, their original characterisitic of military stations.
