The Government’s plan to pass key reform Bills amid the din in Parliament faced a setback on Friday. The Left parties and regional players like the AIADMK and BJD are planning to block attempts to pass three crucial Bills without discussion.
The contentious legislations are the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill and the National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions Bill.
CPI(M) leader in Lok Sabha Basudeb Acharia and other Left leaders met Speaker Meira Kumar and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on the issue. The leaders conveyed to them that they will prevent all attempts to pass the legislations in Lok Sabha amid din.
Acharia told
He said employees in the banking sector were protesting against the legislation and the Centre should heed to their suggestions before passing the Bill. The Bill is to provide increased voting right limit in private sector banks from the current 10 per cent to 26 per cent.
“AIADMK and BJD are also in agreement with our views that Bills should be discussed first inside the House,” Acharia said.
The Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill, 2007, was passed by the Rajya Sabha during the Budget session. The key issue against which the Opposition has moved amendments is the alleged attempt to “fix a cap” on compensation for accident victims. They were alleging that the Bill is being brought to “please insurance companies”.
The National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions Bill is to make accreditation of every higher educational institution by an independent accreditation agency mandatory. Regional parties, including the UPA’s ally, Trinamool Congress, are opposed to the Bill. They claim that the Bill is against the federal principle of Constitution.