Bill to replace insurance ordinance tabled in Lok Sabha amid protests

The government on Tuesday introduced the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill 2015 in Lok Sabha notwithstanding stiff resistance from Trinamool Congress and the Left.

The bill seeks to replace an ordinance, which was promulgated on December 26 to raise the foreign equity investment cap in an insurance company of India from 26 per cent to 49 per cent and to amend the Insurance Act, 1938 and the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act 1972 and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999.

The MPs of the TMC and Left argued that the Lok Sabha did not have the legislative competence to consider the proposed legislation, as a similar bill was pending in Rajya Sabha. They cited Rule 67 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha. The rule says when a bill is pending before the House, notice of an identical bill, whether received before or after the introduction of the pending bill, shall be removed from, or not entered in, the list of pending notices, as the case may be, unless the Speaker otherwise directs.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu tried to dismiss their argument stating that Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had already allowed introduction of the bill to replace the ordinance.
The Bill was finally tabled after 131 members of the House voted in favour of its introduction. Only 45 voted against introduction of the bill.

The erstwhile Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government had introduced a Bill to reform the insurance sector in the Rajya Sabha in 2008. The bill is still pending in the upper House.