Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien on Tuesday reserved his ruling on the question raised by opposition Samajwadi Party, CPI(M), TMC and the Congress of whether the Bills pending in the House could be taken up for passage in the Lok Sabha.
They were referring to Ordinance replacing Bills on FDI in Insurance, Coal Mines and Motor Vehicles Act which will be taken up in the Lok Sabha during the week for consideration and passage.
Mr. Kurien said one house cannot discuss the business taken up by the other and it was not known whether the Bills moved in the Lower House were the same as those pending before the Rajya Sabha, but since this was a Constitutional matter he would give his ruling later. “This is not a simple issue. It needs consideration,’’ he said.
The Chair’s observation came after Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi pointed out that the issue raised was not related to the Upper House and there was no clarity on which Bill the opposition members were talking about. BJP member V.P. Singh Badnaur pointed out that there was no rule regarding this.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour Samajwadi Party member Naresh Agrawal pointed out that Rajya Sabha should either pass the Bills that were the “property’’ of the House or reject them but the same Bills cannot be brought in the other House while they were pending decision here.
Law Minister Sadanand Gowda intervened to say that the House cannot say whether the government was bringing the “same” Bills or different ones in the other House to replace the Ordinances.
CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said if that was not the case why the government wanted to withdraw those Bills from the Rajya Sabha, which move was deferred as the Opposition did not agree.
Opposition parties had last week forced the government to defer its motions for withdrawal of the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008, the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2014 and the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2014 pending for discussion and passage in the House. The Bills that replace Ordinances are now expected to be passed in Lok Sabha first.
