After making attempts for three days to introduce the controversial Real Estate Bill in the Rajya Sabha, the Government was on Wednesday finally forced to concede to the demands of the Opposition to send the Bill to a Select Committee with a mandate to submit the report in the first week of the Monsoon Session.
The Government, which is not in majority in the upper house, brought a motion to refer the Bill to a 21-member Select Committee, chaired by BJP member Anil Madhav Dave.
Moving the motion, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the Government had brought the Bill earlier in this session after taking the view of all stakeholders. However, amid a lot of criticism the Bill was delayed even after the recommendations of the Standing Committee.
Noting that a larger number of members wanted the Bill to be sent to Select Committee, Naidu said he has accepted the suggestions of his "honourable colleagues". The other members of the Select Committee include Mansukh l Mandaviya, Shamsher Singh Manhas (all BJP),Shantaram Naik, M V Rajeev Gowda, Kumari Selja (all Cong), Naresh Agrawal (SP), K C Tyagi (JD-U), Md Nadimul Haque (TMC), A W Rabi Bernard (AIADMK), Munquad Ali (BSP), Ritabrata Banerjee (CPI-M), A U Singh Deo (BJD), C M Ramesh (TDP), Majeed Memon (NCP), Dr K P Ramalingam (DMK), Anil Desai (Shiv Sena), Naresh Gujral (SAD), Nazir Ahmed laway (PDP), D Kupendra Reddy (JD-S) and Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Independent).
The CPM had earlier proposed K N Balagopal's name for Committee. However, as he did not want to become a member, he was replaced by Ritabrata Banerjee.