LS faces piquant situation on Owasisi's point of order on FCRA

The Lok Sabha today faced a piquant situation when a member insisted on a ruling on the issue whether the government can amend Foreign (Contribution) Regulation Act and RBI Act through the Finance Bill.
Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM) contended that amending the FCRA, which is under domain of the Home Ministry, and RBI Act through a money bill was against the provisions of the Constitution.
"I am raising an issue, please give a ruling," the AIMIM leader said during discussion on the Finance Bill at a time when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is away in Germany on an official visit.
The query landed Arjun Charan Sethi, who was in the chair, in a ticklish situation. He said the ruling would be given after the reply of the Finance Minister tomorrow.

Owaisi said there was no point in continuing the debate on the Finance Bill without a ruling by the chair on the point of order raised by him.
In absence of Jaitley, the government did not have a ready response to the ruling sought by the member on a technical issue.

Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha tried to retrieve the situation by saying Jaitley would respond to the issue in his reply to the debate on the Finance Bill tomorrow.
Owaisi was joined by BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab who said government had earlier amended RBI Act in the past through the Finance Bill but was not sure whether FCRA too could be amended.

Prompted by the Lok Sabha officials, Sethi defused the situation by saying that chair had reserved the ruling which would be announced tomorrow.