Purpose of Rajya Sabha not to obstruct, but to give second

The purpose of the Rajya Sabha is to not delay or obstruct Bills, but to give a second view on crucial legislations, Vice President Hamid Ansari said today.
The Vice President, who is also the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, said the decision to have a bicameral legislature was taken "purposefully and consciously" by the makers of the Constitution and it was meant to give "space for reconsideration".
"It (the Rajya Sabha) was certainly not meant to delay, it was not meant to obstruct," he said at the launch of a book, titled 'Rajya Sabha at Work', at Parliament House here.

His comments assume importance as the NDA government has often blamed the Rajya Sabha for delaying the passage of important Bills.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had criticised the Upper House, saying "the wisdom of a directly elected House (Lok Sabha) is questioned by the indirectly elected House (Rajya Sabha)."
Ansari said that a "second look" is always useful and the Rajya Sabha has not "subtracted", but it has given useful value additions to legislations.

He said the members of the Rajya Sabha come from different walks of life with a varied experience.
"This is what makes the second look so relevant. Too many pieces of legislation are landing up in courts. One reason is that sufficient attention is not given to drafting.

"Those who draft legislation are very competent people, but you look at it from one angle, the judges look at it from another angle. A little comma or a semicolon somewhere else does make a difference where judicial scrutiny is concerned," he said.
Referring to Jaitley, Ansari recalled the impeachment proceedings of Soumitra Sen, a former judge of the Calcutta High Court, during the UPA regime and said even then the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha wanted to have a second look into the case.
"At the end of the first day (of the impeachment proceedings), the then Leader of the Opposition (Jaitley) sent me a slip of paper. He was to be the last speaker of the day. He said, 'I do not want to conclude today'.

"I assumed that there must be a good reason. Later on, I asked him what was it. He said, 'There was paper in the vast volumes of papers that were presented in the inquiry, which I wanted to read again' and I found the answer. That is the kind of second look which is always helpful," Ansari said.
The 'Rajya Sabha at Work' is a compilation of procedures, practices, conventions, precedents and rulings.