Even as the Opposition vows that it is not going to let the government have an easy run of the current Lok Sabha session, which resumed on Friday and is scheduled to continue till November 21, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has written to the parliamentary affairs ministry, indicating the varying degree of importance various Bills should be given in the session. Although there is a clutch of Bills awaiting clearance at various levels of the legislative process, the choice of the Bills the PMO considers important is interesting.
There are three categories of Bills. The first category is of those Bills that have been scrutinised by the Standing Committee and are ready to be voted in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The PMO has indicated that the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2005, has priority, along with the Constitution 103rd Amendment Bill, which gives constitutional status to the National Commission for Minorities, and the 106th Amendment Bill that gives constitutional status to cooperatives. The Judges (Inquiry) Bill, 2006 also falls under this category.
The second set of Bills relates to Bills pending in the Rajya Sabha for which the Standing Committee has given its report. These include the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Classes (Reservation in Posts and Services) Bill, 2004, which ensures unfilled posts for SC, ST and OBCs don’t lapse, the Communal Violence Bill and the Unorganised Sector Workers Social Security Bill, 2007.
There is a third set of Bills: those awaiting the attention and report of the Standing Committee. Foremost among them is the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2007, the key legislation deciding the issue of land acquisition for industry and settling the extent of the state governments’ responsibility in acquiring land. As the Standing Committee has not met and the PMO is anxious to put this in place before it demits office, it has listed this as one of the areas where the ministry concerned must endeavour to get the Standing Committee to give its report. The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, 2008 is also among this set of Bills, as is the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill 2007.
The PMO has also asked ministries to incorporate the comments of the Standing Committees and bring the Bills back to Cabinet for clearance. Thus the Cabinet will shortly be clearing the Bill to give constitutional status to the National Commission on Minorities, the Judges Inquiry Bill and the Communal Violence Bill – all of which could be aimed at ensuring the promises made in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) and put them in place before the next Lok Sabha election.