The Modi government’s strategy to escape the Rajya Sabha’s scrutiny in the case of a few non-taxation proposals by inserting them in the Finance Bill came unstuck on Thursday, when an alert Opposition forced it to withdraw them ahead of the discussion and voting. Some MPs had written to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, drawing her attention to the proposals.
The Finance Bill, being a money Bill, goes to the Rajya Sabha, but does not require its approval for passage — and so by inserting these provisions in this Bill, the government had sought to escape the scrutiny of the Upper House, the Opposition said.
Procedural wrangles over Finance Bill
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan did not accede to the Opposition’s demand on Thursday that the Finance Bill be withdrawn and a fresh one brought next week.
The Opposition had forced the government to withdraw non-taxation proposals in Finance Bill, inserted in it to escape the Rajya Sabha’s scrutiny of them.
The Speaker ticked off the government for bringing several amendments to the Finance Bill, 2015-16, at the last minute, even as she endorsed the Opposition’s position, saying it was “a well-established practice ... not to include non-taxation proposals in not only a Finance Bill but also other Bills containing taxation proposals unless it is imperative to include such proposals on Constitutional or legal grounds.”
Walking a tightrope, Ms. Mahajan acknowledged that in the past, “though rare”, Finance Bills had had non-taxation proposals such as those relating to amendments to the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003.
Earlier, the House witnessed procedural wrangles as Opposition MPs alleged that the government’s proposals — the setting up of a public debt management agency and a senior citizens’ welfare fund — needed separate Bills.
