Even as the clamour for reinstating the provisions deleted by the Union Law Ministry in the HIV/AIDS Bill has reached its crescendo, several experts working in the health sector have questioned the role of the Union Law Ministry in truncating the important provisions in the proposed Bill, likely to be tabled in the winter session of Parliament which is scheduled to start the third week of November.

“The role of the law ministry is only to ascertain whether the Bill falls within the purview of the constitution and whether it is legally workable. By deleting substantive provisions, the law ministry has, time and again, gone beyond its mandate,” said Raman Chawla, from the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit.

“The Law Ministry has gone beyond its mandate by deleting substantive provisions. The work of the law ministry is not to make policy changes, but only to check whether the provisions of the Bill are within the constitution and are legally workable,” said another legal expert.

The HIV/AIDS Bill was drafted and finalized in 2006 by the Union Health Ministry, after countrywide consultations with HIV positive groups, women and children groups, communities at risk of HIV, among others. In 2007, the draft was sent to the law ministry for its consideration. In October 2008, they sent back a severely truncated version of the Bill.

On February 28, 2009, after countrywide protests against the deletion of several important provisions, the law ministry sent a second version of the Bill. However, this was also disappointing; with several important provisions, such as those which provide relief during healthcare emergency situations for people living with HIV and AIDS and other provisions related to the specific vulnerability of women and children towards HIV, being truncated.

On October 5 this year, the law ministry came out with the third, and latest version of the HIV/AIDS Bill, which is also said to be no different from the second draft. “Several important provisions remain deleted in the latest version of the Bill. The law ministry has, once again, not paid heed to the demands of the community,” said Murali Shunmugam, from the Indian Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS.

Meanwhile, a large number of NGOs from different parts of the country have taken to the streets demanding to reinstate several important provisions which were truncated by the Law Ministry.