Embarrassment for govt: Bill sent to Standing Committee

Bill to be referred to Standing Committee after Opposition stalls it in Rajya Sabha

The government was left embarrassed on Thursday in the Rajya Sabha as the opposition and their supporters forced it to refer to the Standing Committee for a bill granting special powers to Election Commission on delimitation of SC/ST constituencies.

The Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Bill,2013,needed to be passed urgently as it was to replace an ordinance which would expire on April 4.

Soon after Law minister Ashwani Kumar rose to seek the approval of the House for considering and passing the bill,members from various parties,including BJP,BSP,SP and CPI-M,objected to rushing through the crucial legislation.

Story continues below this ad

They insisted that the bill should be referred to the Standing Committee because it concerns all political parties as is related to delimitation of constituencies.

Kumar pleaded with the members to pass the Bill as it sought to replace an ordinance promulgated by the government to bring the Supreme Court judgement into effect.

The Law Minister initially ignored the members’ views,but finally conceded after Naresh Agarwal (SP) demanded a vote on the issue. The minister,however,sought a specific time frame to be fixed to deal with the issue in the Standing Committee.

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said that going by the sense of the House and the Minister yielding to the members’ demand,the matter will be referred to the Standing Committee and the Chairman will fix the time frame for dealing with the issue.

Story continues below this ad

Earlier,Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley said the legislative procedures could not be bypassed and even the Supreme Court had not asked the government to do so.

He said the judgement came on January 10,2012,and the government brought the Ordinance a year later after “a slumber”.

Others who pressed for sending the bill to the Standing Committee included Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M),Satish Misra (BSP) and Ramgopal Yadav (SP). BSP and SP support the UPA from outside.

For Kolkata, the IMD has forecast mostly cloudy skies with light to moderate rain or thundershowers on most days through Panchami.

Unprecedented rain submerges Kolkata amidst Durga Puja preparations; train services hit

Cities39 min ago

At least two people were killed as Kolkata woke up to an inundated city on Tuesday morning after heavy overnight rainfall flooded streets, railway tracks, and Metro tracks. The downpour, which began late Monday night and continued past midnight, led to severe waterlogging across major arterial roads and residential areas, paralysing normal life.

View all shorts

Live Blog