Rajya Sabha to sit beyond 7 pm from Monday

Rajya Sabha will sit for late hours in last week of the first half of the budget session from Monday to clear the pending legislative and other businesses.

The Business Advisory Committee of the House that met on Thursday decided that the House will sit beyond 7 pm from Monday to take up Governments’s legislative and other business during the fourth week of the current Budget session.

The government, who is woefully short of majority in Upper House, has been able to convert three of the six ordinances into bills after consultations with parties, while two of them on coal and mines and minerals have been referred to a Select Committee of Rajya Sabha.

Rajya Sabha has so far passed three bills relating to Amendment of Citizenship Act, The Motor Vehicles Act and the Insurance Laws. Lok Sabha has passed all the six Ordinance Replacement Bills.

The one on land acquisition has little possibility of passage in Rajya Sabha with a united Opposition determined to stall it in the House.

While Congress has already started a padyatra against the land bill from symbolical Bhatta Parsaul village of Uttar Pradesh yesterday that will culminate into an agitation at Jantar Mantar and gherao of Parliament on March 16.

MPs from eight Opposition parties have planned a march to Rashtrapati Bhavan next Tuesday to register their protest against the amendments proposed to be carried out in the Land Acquisition Act of 2013.

Battling the Opposition charge that the new land bill was "anti-farmer" and "pro corporate", thirty-five Union ministers yesterday huddled in a strategy meeting to counter this perception and decided with other MPs to fan out in their constituencies to clear the air over the issue.

The Upper House is still to take up for consideration and returning the Appropriation Bills relating to the Demands for Grants on Account (Railways) for 2015-16 and Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2014-15.

Discussion on the Railway Budget has almost been concluded but the minister has not given his reply in the Upper House.

Rajya Sabha will also take up discussion on General Budget for 2015-16 and related Appropriation Bills after they are passed by Lok Sabha next week.

The Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha will submit its reports on the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015 and the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2015 by March 18, two days before the Houses go for a recess.

Hence, the Upper House will take up these bills for consideration and passage after Wednesday. The two Ordinances will lapse on April 5, 2015 and need to be replaced by the Bills before this.

As per the schedule announced, the Parliament is to be adjourned on March 20, 2015. The third Ordinance replacement Bill related to Land Acquisition is still to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha.

Sources in the government said that the Business Advisory Committee of Rajya Sabha has alloted one hour for further discussion on the Mines Bill, two hours for the Coal Mines Bill next week and ten hours for General Budget.

The government has also proposed consideration and passing of The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and The Regional Rural
Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2015 in Rajya Sabha next week.

In the Lok Sabha, the government has proposed discussion on General Budget for 2015-16 and introduction, consideration and passing of Appropriation Bills relating to the Demands for Grants on Account for 2015-16, Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2014-15 and Excess Demands for Grants for 2012-13.

For this, twelve hours time has been alloted. In addition, the government has also proposed consideration and passing of The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2015 as passed by Rajya Sabha this session, The Warehousing Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2015, The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2014, next week.