The Budget Session may be extended, if so needed, to allow for the passage of the amended Coal Bill and the Mines Bill, which are to come up before the Rajya Sabha for passing on Thursday. The issue of extension of time was discussed in the CCPA which met here on Wednesday morning.
According to sources, the first half of the Budget Session could be extended by two days if the two Bills are not passed before Parliament slips into recess on March 20. The question of proroguing of Budget Session would be taken up after passing of the two Bills, sources said.
The proroguing of the Session would facilitate re-promulgation of the Ordinance on the controversial land Acquisition Bill. The Government cannot issue an Ordinance during a continuation of Parliament session. The current session would continue till May with a month-long recess starting from March 20. If Parliament is prorogued, its next session would be deemed as a new session.
The Government has admitted that the scales are not in its favour where passing of the land Bill is concerned. If the land Ordinance is re-promulgated, the land Bill (which has been passed in lS) will have to again go through the lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha route. In the past, some of the Bills repeated “the exercise” a whopping seven times before they could be finally passed.
The Government is confident that it will be able to pass the Coal and Mines Bills despite opposition from the Congress and the left parties, as it has the support of the Trinamool Congress and the Biju Janata Dal, and also hopes for support from the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The reports of the Select Committees on the Coal Bill and the Mines and Minerals Bill were tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday morning. The Congress and the left parties have submitted dissent notes on both the reports.
While the report on the Coal Bill, sources said, has been adopted without any amendments, the report on the Mines Bill has been adopted after the inclusion of two amendments. These refer to the inclusion of provisions for tribal welfare and the formation of district monetary funds.
The Bills were submitted amidst protests from the Congress alleging rules were not followed in finalising the reports. The moment these reports were tabled by Bhupinder Singh (Mines and Minerals) and Anil Dave (Coal Mines), leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad stood up to protest over the fact that the report was rushed without taking on board the concerns of stakeholders.