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Left stalls AIIMS-like institutes Bill
With the Winter Session of Parliament staring for a washout, the Government is in a fix. It managed to pass three Bills in Lok Sabha on Monday amid a din over Coalgate but its attempt at getting the legislation for setting up six AIIMS-like institutions through in the Upper House got stalled due to opposition from the Left parties.
It was the “tacit understanding with MPs” that saved the day for the Government in the Lok Sabha, wherein the Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010 (seeking to protect women, including lakhs employed as domestic workers, from sexual harassment at workplace); the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Amendment Bill, 2011 (to bifurcate civil services cadre of Tripura and Manipur); and National Highways Authority of India (Amendment Bill), 2011 were passed amidst din.
Admitting that passing the Bill in din is not good, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that at least some Bills on which there is broad consensus have to be passed as there is a tacit understanding that the Government has with MPs from all parties. However, he clarified that many important seminal Bills of his Ministry concerning Banking, Pension and Insurance could not be brought and the Government will not even press from them.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said that initially 32 Bills were listed for the passage in the Parliament, but then the list was shortened to18. However, now it appears that only a few of them could be cleared by House.
None of the Bills aimed to check corruption— Benami Transaction Prohibition Bill, Public Procurement Bill, Prevention of Money Laundering Bill, Right to Citizens for time bound delivery and redressal of their grievances, Whistle Blower Protection Bill, Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Officials Bill — could be passed during the session. However, the Government is planning to pass the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) (Amendment) Bill 2011, the NIMHANS Bangalore Bill in Parliament on Tuesday.
In the Rajya Sabha, Left members vociferously protested against the manner in which the Government tried to get the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2012, after it was moved by MoS for Health and Family Welfare S Gandhiselvan.
As BJP continued to raise uproar over allocation of coal blocks and rushed to the Well, CPI(M) members P Rajeeve and KN Balagopal also entered the Well raising objections to the manner in which the Government wanted the legislation to be passed.
The CPI(M) and CPI demanded discussion on the Bill before its passage. Prasanta Chatterjee (CPI-M) said his party will not allow any legislation to be passed in the Upper House without discussion. D Raja also echoed similar sentiments. MoS for Personnel V Narayanasamy then told the Left members that the Bill has already been passed in Lok Sabha. As the uproar continued, Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien adjourned the House for the day.
The Bill will replace an ordinance that allowed the six AIIMS-like institutes to get operational from September in Patna, Bhopal, Raipur, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur and Rishikesh and confer powers upon the Centre to establish AIIMS-like institutions by notification in the official gazette.
With the Winter Session of Parliament staring for a washout, the Government is in a fix. It managed to pass three Bills in Lok Sabha on Monday amid a din over Coalgate but its attempt at getting the legislation for setting up six AIIMS-like institutions through in the Upper House got stalled due to opposition from the Left parties.
It was the “tacit understanding with MPs” that saved the day for the Government in the Lok Sabha, wherein the Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010 (seeking to protect women, including lakhs employed as domestic workers, from sexual harassment at workplace); the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Amendment Bill, 2011 (to bifurcate civil services cadre of Tripura and Manipur); and National Highways Authority of India (Amendment Bill), 2011 were passed amidst din.
Admitting that passing the Bill in din is not good, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that at least some Bills on which there is broad consensus have to be passed as there is a tacit understanding that the Government has with MPs from all parties. However, he clarified that many important seminal Bills of his Ministry concerning Banking, Pension and Insurance could not be brought and the Government will not even press from them.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said that initially 32 Bills were listed for the passage in the Parliament, but then the list was shortened to18. However, now it appears that only a few of them could be cleared by House.
None of the Bills aimed to check corruption— Benami Transaction Prohibition Bill, Public Procurement Bill, Prevention of Money Laundering Bill, Right to Citizens for time bound delivery and redressal of their grievances, Whistle Blower Protection Bill, Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Officials Bill — could be passed during the session. However, the Government is planning to pass the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) (Amendment) Bill 2011, the NIMHANS Bangalore Bill in Parliament on Tuesday.
In the Rajya Sabha, Left members vociferously protested against the manner in which the Government tried to get the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2012, after it was moved by MoS for Health and Family Welfare S Gandhiselvan.
As BJP continued to raise uproar over allocation of coal blocks and rushed to the Well, CPI(M) members P Rajeeve and KN Balagopal also entered the Well raising objections to the manner in which the Government wanted the legislation to be passed.
The CPI(M) and CPI demanded discussion on the Bill before its passage. Prasanta Chatterjee (CPI-M) said his party will not allow any legislation to be passed in the Upper House without discussion. D Raja also echoed similar sentiments. MoS for Personnel V Narayanasamy then told the Left members that the Bill has already been passed in Lok Sabha. As the uproar continued, Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien adjourned the House for the day.
The Bill will replace an ordinance that allowed the six AIIMS-like institutes to get operational from September in Patna, Bhopal, Raipur, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur and Rishikesh and confer powers upon the Centre to establish AIIMS-like institutions by notification in the official gazette.
