Before Parliament slips into recess on March 20, the Government is planning to push through the Mines and Minerals Development & Regulation Bill and the Coal (Special Provisions) Bill. Both the Bills will be finalised on Tuesday and are expected to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. According to Chairman of the Select Committee Coal Mines (Special Provision) Anil Madhav Dave, the report was adopted on Monday and a dissent note may be filed on Tuesday afternoon.
DMK member Tiruchi Siva, who is also a member of the Select Committee, said that the report will be submitted as per schedule and the further procedures will be decided after a meeting on Tuesday morning. In an informal chat with journalist in Parliament, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu expressed confidence that both the amended legislations would be passed in two Houses before the end of this phase of session.
But the Government has yet not taken any decision on when the land Acquisition Amendment Bill will be taken up in the Rajya Sabha. The Government will have another round of talks with Opposition parties on the land Bill, sources said. The Government agreed to send Coal Bill and Mines and Minerals Bill to the Rajya Sabha Select Committees “as a trade-off” with the Opposition for passing the Insurance Bill in the RS. Both the amended Bills would be first passed by the RS and then presented to the lok Sabha for its approval.
According to sources, the Select Committees met on Sunday for about seven hours to complete discussions on the Bills and meet the deadline of March 18. Despite the “success” with these major Bills, including the Insurance Bill, the Government is yet to “reveal” its mind on the course of land Bill in the RS. “The Government has not made up its mind on the contentious bill,” a senior Minister said and indicated that the Opposition was not ready to give passage to the Bill in the RS despite “amendments” carried out in the lok Sabha.
A day after the Government conceded to the Opposition demand, the Rajya Sabha decided to set up two Select Committees to further amend the Mines and Minerals Development & Regulation Bill and the Coal (Special Provisions) Bill, with 19 members on each of the panels.