In its haste to be one up on the judiciary, the UPA Government has ended up with egg on its face. It will now have to wait — at least till the Winter Session, if it is convened, or more — to create a new system of appointment of judges.
Having rushed through the Constitutional Amendment Bill in this regard in the Upper House on Thursday amid a walkout by the BJP which wanted it to be referred to the Standing Committee, a “technical error” in the title of the Bill finally led to the legislation not being taken up in the lok Sabha for passage before it was adjourned sine die.
With Opposition raising a hue and cry in the Rajya Sabha, law Minister Kapil Sibal had to apologise for the “patent error” on Saturday. When introduced in the Rajya Sabha, the Bill was titled Constitution (120th) Amendment Bill, but when passed it should have read as Constitution (99th) Amendment Bill.
This major embarrassment comes in the backdrop of the Government's failed bid to push through amendments in the Representation of People's Act to negate Supreme Court's order disqualifying convicted MPs/MlAs and also the Right to Information (RTI) Act to keep political parties out of the law's purview too has fallen flat.
While the BJP opposed the amendments to the Representation of People's Act in the lok Sabha on Friday arguing that that amendments were bad in law, the amendments in RTI Act also could not go through due to the Opposition's reservations over it. The Standing Committee will now scrutinise the amendments.
The Constitution Amendment Bill was to pave way for creation of a Judicial Appointments Commission to recommend appointment and transfer of judges of the Supreme Court and the 24 High courts.
After any Constitutional Amendment Bill gets Parliamentary nod, it is sent to all the States and 50 per cent of the State legislatures have to ratify it and the process could take up to eight months. After ratification, the Government sends it to the President for his approval.
As regards the latest faux pas regarding the Bill, the entire Opposition in the Upper House on Saturday took the treasury benches to task for the goof up and demanded that law Minister Kapil Sibal apologise. Elders said the “patent error” would have been noticed if he had agreed to refer the bill to the Standing Committee and Parliament could have passed the bill in winter session.
Replying to queries as to whether the bill with corrections will again be brought to the Rajya Sabha, Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien said the Chairman has the right to correct the error and then send it to the lok Sabha.
Raising the issue as soon as the House met for the day, Ravi Shankar Prasad (BJP) asked the Government to explain as to what was the hurry in getting the Bill passed and charged that Sibal “misled the House and took the members for a ride.” “He must apologise, anguish would not do,” he added.
Similar views were expressed by NK Singh (JD-U) and P Rajeeve (CPM) and the agitated members did not allow the House to run leading to two adjournments.
Regretting the error, Sibal later informed the House there was an error in the title of the Bill. “The Secretariat (Rajya Sabha) realised some error has taken place. The patent error was immediately intimated to the Chairman who corrected it and transmitted to the lok Sabha. The Bill was printed and ready for passage. However, I regret despite our best efforts it could not be taken up by the lok Sabha. It was not intentional,” he said.
However, the BJP members were not satisfied with the Minister's reply and said he had not apologised. Prasad also said his party repeatedly asked Sibal on Thursday to refer the Bill to the Standing Committee for “filtration” and wider consultations with all the stake holders but the Minister rushed through the process.
Sukhendu Shekhar (Trinamool) said the Government hurried through process to get the Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha and as a consequence the error took place. “We also did not apply our minds or else the error would have been detected,” he said.