Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday following a request from the Government that the Indian Antarctic Bill, 2022 be taken up for consideration when Opposition members are also present in the House.
In a day of vociferous protest by Congress members in the Well of the House holding placards of party president Sonia Gandhi who was interrogated by Enforcement Directorate in the National Herald money laundering case, the house proceeding remained disrupted
The question hour and zero hour were run without most of the opposition members not present and those present continued to protest. The house was the adjourned for the day. After the House reassembled at 2:15 PM following adjournment, Union minister Jitendra Singh said his request is that the bill be taken up for consideration only when Opposition members are present as it is an important legislation.The chair, Bhartruhari Mahtab, took the sense of the House noting that the presence of Opposition was negligible, and adjourned the proceedings for the day.
"As members are absent in large number and Opposition is not there, so it is my suggestion and request that this is a very important bill and for the first time this issue is to be discussed... So can we take it up some other time and not today," Singh asked as the House re-assembled.
"The government's desire is that the bill should not be passed without debate," Mehtab said. BJP MP P P Chaudhary said this was an important bill and the Congress should have been in the House for debate as it is the primary responsibility of lawmakers that they stay in the House and discuss an important legislation. "It is a matter of regret that they are not in the House. If they would have been there, this bill could have been discussed," he said.
Mehtab said the sense of the House is to defer this bill to a different date and adjourned the proceedings till Friday.
The bill seeks to give effect to the Antarctic Treaty, the Convention on Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources and the protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.
Earlier, Union minister Pralhad Joshi asked whether the Opposition party believes everyone is equal before the law or not. "Is she some 'super human' because she is the Congress president?"