Govt asks Opp for rethink on 'obstructive' role in Parliament

Asking Opposition to have a rethink on its "obstructive" role in Parliament, government today said there is need to consider whether all bills are required to be sent to standing committees.

The government's argument came as the Opposition pushed certain reform bills in an apparent bid to delay their implementation.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu also attacked the Opposition for sending the land bill and other bills to parliamentary committees, saying, "They have no moral right to criticise our legislation."

He alleged that the Opposition makes allegations but does not hear the government and said, "This is not fair and not a healthy democracy" and the Opposition should understand.
He claimed that the government has set a record in terms of number of sittings and transaction of legislative business during its first year.

"This session was very constructive as a number of pending legislations were cleared. During the last one year there have been 90 sittings of Lok Sabha, the highest in last 10 years. Rajya Sabha has also had 87 sittings, which is also a record. Both the Houses have passed 47 bills, the best in the last six years," Naidu said.

He said government is keen on a minimum of 100 sittings of Parliament each year as recommended by the last Conference of Chief Whips and Floor Leaders of Legislatures held in October 2014, with the cooperation of all concerned.

Talking about the Opposition, he said, "I am disturbed as both Houses lost a lot of time. This trend is disturbing. I hope this will change in future."

Naidu said during the first year government sent all bills to the standing committees but noted that "this is not good".

"There is need to consider whether the bills should be referred to the Standing Committee," he said, adding that the "Opposition should think about its role in Parliament."

The minister said that the Rajya Sabha passed 25 bills and the Lok Sabha 24, the best of the Budget sessions of the last six years. Lok Sabha worked for 117 per cent of scheduled time while the productivity of Rajya Sabha was 101 per cent.

He said government is aware of the criticism by some parties that it was pushing legislative proposals at the cost of procedures. "I feel that this is unfair criticism."