Describing the Budget Session as “the best in last five years” with the highest number of 24 Bills passed by both the houses, the Government on Wednesday questioned the need to send “all bills” to standing committees and called a re-think on the exercise.
As both the houses of Parliament were adjourned sine die after the three-month-long Budget session, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu maintained that some of the long pending legislations, including the one relating to operationalising land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh, the Insurance (Amendment) Bill and “the important “ Black Money Bill were passed in both the houses.
Besides, he said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, also found passage in lok Sabha and later referred to the Select Committee of Rajya Sabha.
Naidu said land Acquisition Bill, GST and Real Estate regulation Bills should have been passed but were sent to committees on account of resistance from the Opposition and “number problem” in Rajya Sabha.
Referring to the controversial land Bill, he said the Congress opposed the legislation even though it acquired lakhs of acre of land for SEZ (Special Economic Zone) based on old British law. “What moral right it has to oppose the BillIJ” he asked.
“This Budget Session has proved to be the most productive during the last decade with the lok Sabha working for 117 per cent of the scheduled working hours and the Rajya Sabha reporting a productivity of 101 per cent,” the minister said.
In terms of the number of sittings also this Session scored high with lok Sabha holding 35 sittings, the highest in the last five years and Rajya Sabha carrying out 32 sittings, next only to that of 34 in 2012.
Naidu said, on the whole, the functioning of Parliament over the last one year has been a “matter of satisfaction for all the stakeholders of democracy”. The Minister said Government has been very accommodating to the Opposition and replying to them even in zero hour when it was not supposed to respond to queries.
He said on account of disruptions and interruptions, lok Sabha lost 6 hours 54 minutes but made up for the lost time by giving up lunch hours and working beyond scheduled time for 42 hours 41 minutes. “Similarly, Rajya Sabha lost 18 hours 28 minutes but gained 20 hours,” the Minister said adding while Government was willing to work more the Opposition was saying “Government is pushing for Bills”.
“Kaam karna paap hai kyaIJ” Naidu quipped.