Naidu dismisses Opposition allegations on scrutiny of Bills

New Delhi (India), July 29 (ANI): Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday dismissed the Opposition's allegation that the Rajya Sabha was a party in hurriedly passing legislation without proper scrutiny, while stressing the need for the codification of guidelines for the scrutiny of Bills by Parliamentary Committees.
"During the last five sessions that I have presided, 10 Bills have been first introduced by the government in the Rajya Sabha. As the Chairman, I have referred eight of those 10 Bills to respective department-related Standing Committees, though it is not mandatory to do so," he said.
Naidu said the other two Bills were not referred as they did not warrant "detailed scrutiny" by the Standing Committee.
"I hope that all of you would agree that such a record would not justify the allegation if it is so intended that the Rajya Sabha is a party to hurried legislation," he observed.
Naidu's clarification came days after 17 opposition parties wrote a letter to the Chairman expressing concern over passing of Bills without scrutiny either by the Parliamentary Standing or Select Committees.
"During the current session, four bills have so far been introduced first in the Rajya Sabha. Of these, three Bills have been taken up for consideration and passed. These Bills could not be referred to the Standing Committees because these are still to be constituted. It is for the House to decide if a Bill is to be referred to the Select Committee and not me as the Chairman of the House," he said.
With regard to the scrutiny of Bills by Parliamentary Committees, the Chairman said there is perhaps a need for "codification of guidelines" that could make the road ahead much clearer."
"It can't be anybody's case that every bill should be subjected to scrutiny by one or the other Parliamentary Committee. Such scrutiny may be decided upon based on the complexity of issues involved in a legislative proposal what warrant such detailed scrutiny. Leaders may reflect on this and maybe a committee can be constituted for evolving such guidelines for future reference and clarity," he said.
He also said it is time for "collective introspection" and "reflection" so that the House can function as envisaged by the founding fathers and added that proposing legislation was in the domain of the Executive and ensuring effective scrutiny of such proposals is the right and responsibility of the Opposition.
Naidu said the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill was sent to the Standing and Select Committees. The Opposition wanted the RTI Bill to be sent to Select Committee, but could not be sent because there was no consensus.
"The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2019 listed for consideration and passing in the Rajya Sabha as passed by the other House has already been looked into by the Standing Committee. Seven more Bills to be taken up in the Rajya Sabha for consideration as received from the other House have already been scrutinized by the Standing Committees," he said.
In a letter to the Rajya Sabha Chairman, the opposition parties had raised concerns over "hurriedly" passing the Bills in Parliament without any scrutiny.
Responding to the letter, Naidu said that the House would agree that the issues raised by the Opposition cast a cloud over the functioning of apex legislature which, he said, is not good for our parliamentary democracy.
The Congress, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Telugu Desam Party, Communist Party of India, CPI (M), and nine other smaller parties had signed the letter.
They argued that in the 17th Lok Sabha, that is the current one, 14 Bills have already been passed in the first session and none of them was referred to a Standing/Select Committee for legislative scrutiny. It said 11 more Bills have been listed.
Giving point-by-point rebuttal, Naidu said the complaint regarding the number of 30 long sittings of Lok Sabha till the last week has surprised him, in terms of why the complainants referred this issue to him.
"I would have expected them to take objections to the number of sittings of the Rajya Sabha. I fail to understand how the complainants can describe such longer sessions and passing a good number of Bills during that period as a 'dubious record' since Parliament's core functions include legislation for socio-economic transformation of the country," he said.
On allegations of "smothering" of the voice of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha by not taking up adequate Short Duration Discussions as per the conventions, Naidu said the trend of such discussions revealed contrary to what the complainants have asserted in their letter.
"Short Duration Discussions taken up in the Rajya Sabha during previous years was less than three per session. This does not support the contention that by convention, one such discussion is taken up every week during the sessions of the Rajya Sabha. During this session, two such discussions were already taken up. One more such discussion could have been taken up by now but the House was not allowed to transact any business for two and a half days," he said.
Taking on the members for disrupting the proceedings of the House, Naidu asked which rules and conventions justify disruptions and dysfunctional legislatures.
"Under which rules of Rajya Sabha, some sections of the House rush into the Well of the House, tear and throw papers at the Chair? Under which rules are the members granted the privilege of disrupting the proceedings of the House?" he asked.
The Chairman said he will not allow any effort from anybody to undermine the rights and privileges of its members. (ANI)