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Govt strategy meet to prepare for Monsoon session

Consumer Protection Bill likely in the session

BS Reporter New Delhi
Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu will hold a meeting of Union ministers and secretaries to discuss the legislative agenda for the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament on Thursday.

The session, which will run from July 21 to August 13, is likely to be eventful. The Opposition parties, particularly the so-called Janata Parivar parties, are preparing to protest the government’s refusal to share the data for the Other Backward Classes as part of the Socio Economic and Caste Census. The Congress could raise the Vyapam issue and former Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi’s alleged links with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. The government, however, is hopeful of a smooth session considering the Opposition isn’t united on any single issue.

In a meeting of secretaries of the parliamentary affairs ministry and legislative department of the law ministry on July 9, the government had listed nine Bills pending in the Rajya Sabha and four pending in the Lok Sabha to be taken up in this session, besides the introduction of 11 new Bills. The four Bills pending in the Lok Sabha include the contentious land Bill. However, the Bill might not be taken up during this session as the Joint Committee of Parliament scrutinising it is yet to complete its proceedings. The committee is slated to submit its report on the first day of the session, but is all set to request an extension.

The other three Bills that the Lok Sabha could take up are the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2014; Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2015; and The Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2014.

Some of the nine bills pending in Rajya Sabha are the Goods and Services Tax (GST) constitutional (one hundred and twenty second) Amendment Bill, the Whistle Blower Protection (Amendment) Bill, the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2015. The GST Bill is currently with a Rajya Sabha select committee.

The government also plans to bring in this session the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2015 which seeks to bring down cheque bounce cases in courts. The bill was passed by Lok Sabha in the last session and has been pending in Rajya Sabha.

Later the government brought an ordinance. The government plans to first repeal the earlier bill the Lok Sabha passed and bring a new bill incorporating certain provisions, which are now part of the ordinance.

Other important bills pending in Rajya Sabha are the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill and the Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Parliamentary, Assembly Constituencies (Third) Bill, 2014.

The 11 new bills, which the government plans to introduce, include the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015 that will entail large scale changes in consumer protection laws and create a Consumer Protection Authority to fast-track grievance redressal of consumers.

Others are the Constitution (Amendment) Bills, 2015 relating to reservation of women in Panchayats and urban local bodies, Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2015 to settle commercial disputes outside courts, the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Services), which seeks to redress their long-pending demand of high court judges of one rank one pension, the National Commission for Women Bill, 2015 and the Human DNA Profiling Bill, 2015.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan will have the customary pre-session all party meeting on Monday.
 

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First Published: Jul 15 2015 | 12:10 AM IST

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