The government is in the process of shortening the budget session recess and rescheduling the second part of the session to end around April 8 in view of Tuesday's announcement of the timetable for Assembly elections in four States and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
A shorter and tighter session would also mean the impeachment of the former Calcutta High Court judge, Soumitra Sen, remaining on hold as the exercise would possibly require a couple of days in each House. It was in the last winter session that the Justice Sudershan Reddy Committee report, finding Justice Sen guilty of “misappropriation” of “large sums” of money, was placed in Parliament, signalling the start of the impeachment process.
Problem of numbers
In fact, even if the new schedule is finalised, it would mean Parliament remaining in session and the important Finance Bill being taken up for passing in the midst of the elections in Assam and ahead of polling in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and West Bengal. With MPs from these States likely to be absent, the government could have a problem of numbers in the Lok Sabha.
Some MPs want the budget session to continue without a recess and complete all important financial business by March-end. However, it seems this proposal does not find favour with the Bharatiya Janata Party, which feels it would disrupt the established committee system under which standing panels examine the demands for grants by individual Ministries in some detail before they are taken up and guillotined in Parliament.
Towards consensus
Over the next few days, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal is expected to work out consensus on ending the first half of the session around March 16 and Parliament meeting again on March 28 with a short recess in between.
Official sources indicated on Tuesday that the BJP might be willing to go along with the new thinking on shortening the recess rather than forgoing it altogether. Some parties have pointed out that the BJP has little stake in the coming Assembly polls and is, therefore, not willing to play ball.
Now that the Election Commission has announced the poll schedule, new dates for the recess and reconvening of House sittings are expected to be finalised after consultations between the government and Opposition parties and final clearance by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs. If the new proposal goes through, the total budget session will be shorter by just three days. The government has indicated this can easily be compensated by a longer monsoon session.
