To avert a constitutional crisis, the government and the Opposition on Monday called a truce for passing the Finance Bill, the Appropriations Bill, the rail budget and the Demands for Grants on Tuesday.
In effect, it would mean Parliament giving its approval for spending thousands of crores, without any discussion. The only point of interest would be Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s speech, before the Finance Bill is commended for vote, in which invariably changes are made to some of the original proposals to mobilise taxes.
Since Mr. Chidambaram unveiled his budget proposals on February 28, there have been suggestionsfrom some quarters and segments of industry for concessions. For instance, his proposal to impose wealth tax on agricultural land falling within the 8 km corridor outside municipal limits has been opposed by some political parties. Indications are that Mr. Chidambaram would address the issue.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Budget session of Parliament is essentially meant to debate in-depth demands for grants of various ministries and departments and the provisions of the Finance Minister. Given the time limit (since it is not practical for Parliament to discuss all demands of grants), the presiding officers have made it a practice to ensure debate demands for grants of key Ministries such as the Home, Defence and Foreign Ministries. This time all the demands for grants would be guillotined.
At a meeting of the Lok Sabha floor leaders convened by Speaker Meira Kumar, the Opposition flagged the issue of controversial JPC draft report as well the crisis triggered by the draft CBI report on coalgate, which has forced them to stall Parliament. They made it clear that allowing functioning of Parliament for passage of Finance Bills was not at the cost of their demands.
Even before the Speaker’s initiative, the opposition had decided to cooperate with the government on passage of all money bills. As per rules, the government has to get all money bills related to the Union Budget passed within 75 days of the Budget presentation. Since these four Bills will have to go the Rajya Sabha and then to the President for his assent, it is crucial for the government to get Lok Sabha's approval by April 30 to meet the deadline.
ADVERTISEMENT
Once these bills are approved by the Lok Sabha they would be referred to Rajya Sabha for consideration. The upper house does not vote on money bills and it can at the best refer them to the Lok Sabha for a re-look. The ongoing budget session ends on May 10.
At the Speaker’s meeting, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj conveyed to her that her party would not compromise on its demand for removal of JPC chairman P.C. Chacko and the shelving of the draft report prepared by him. CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta, however, insisted that a fresh report should be prepared under a new chairman as the two year labour of the Committee’s 30 members should not go waste and tax payers’ money needed to be respected.
In response to a specific concern voiced by the SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav over the Ladakh, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath suggested that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could meet all party leaders.