Rajya Sabha disrupted for second day in a row

The Rajya Sabha could not transact any legislative business for the second day in succession, casting a shadow over the government's plans to have the two Bills - the compensatory afforestation and the goods and services tax (GST) Constitution amendment Bills - passed in the ongoing monsoon session.

But, hope is alive for both the Bills as the session ends on August 12, with 13 sittings still in hand. The Congress disrupted the proceedings on Tuesday, as it had on Monday, insisting that the House take up the private member's Bill for a special package for Andhra Pradesh. It has accused the government of scuttling a discussion on the Bill on Friday "by design". The government said it was a 'Money Bill', and cannot be taken up in the Rajya Sabha.
 

The government has argued that any special package to a state government would entail payments from the Consolidated Fund of India, and is, therefore, a 'Money Bill'.

Government strategists even claimed surprise that private members' Bills, which are self-evidently 'Money Bills', were being listed in the Rajya Sabha.

But that betrayed a cluelessness that doesn't reflect well on the government's parliamentary floor managers, since the Bill moved by Congress MP KV Ramachandra Rao was introduced in the Rajya Sabha nearly a year back, in August 2015, and listed for discussion for the first time in March, this year. A similar Bill that envisages creating a welfare fund for farmers of arid and desert areas, moved by Congress MP Ahmed Patel in the Rajya Sabha, has also been listed for discussion at a later date. It was introduced in December, 2014. If passed, it would involve expenditure from the Consolidate Fund of India.

Under parliamentary rules and procedures, a Bill which involves expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India, cannot be passed by Parliament unless the President recommends it to the House where it is being considered.

The President can withhold the recommendation but it is rare. The President, whether to recommend or to withhold such a Bill, goes by the advice of the government, particularly the Finance Ministry. "To put it in layman's language, the recommendation is required lest the Bill becomes a law and the government subsequently finds that it does not have the money to be spent from the Consolidated Fund of India," constitutional expert and former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash C Kashyap said.

According to the Constitution, all 'Money Bills' can originate only in the Lok Sabha. The decision of Lok Sabha Speaker is final on whether a Bill is a 'Money Bill' or not. The government has argued that the Rajya Sabha chairman, Vice President Hamid Ansari, needs to refer the Bill on Andhra Pradesh special package to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. It offered to the Congress a discussion on whether Rao's Bill was a money bill or not.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said it was unfortunate that the Congress party was trying to hold up Rajya Sabha proceedings. "We urge them to respect the provisions of the Constitution. We all have the welfare of Andhra Pradesh in mind, and that welfare lies in smooth functioning of the House and passing the compensatory afforestation Bill," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said. He said compensatory afforestation Bill, from its corpus of nearly Rs 42,000 crore, would release Rs 2243 crore to Andhra Pradesh.

The Congress has argued that the Bharatiya Janata Party, along with ally Shiromani Akali Dal, scuttled the Andhra Pradesh Bill on Friday as part of a design, since it was set to lose a vote on the Bill with most parties, including its ally Telugu Desam Party, supporting the Bill. The government fears that any special package to Andhra Pradesh would mean renewed demands for special packages from such states as Bihar, West Bengal and Punjab.