Oppn wants Parl scrutiny of important Bills

The opposition may put brakes on government's "hurry" in passing at least three crucial bills, including the NIA (Amendment) Bill and DNA (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, in Rajya Sabha without Parliamentary scrutiny.

Sources said the Opposition leaders have conveyed to the government that all Bills cannot be rushed through without adequate scrutiny by Parliamentary Standing Committees.

They told a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of Rajya Sabha that legislations like NIA (Amendment) Bill and DNA (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill and The Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill need further scrutiny.

A senior Opposition leader said seven Bills have been passed by Lok Sabha and some of them have been cleared by Rajya Sabha also. "Now 10 more Bills have been introduced in Lok Sabha. All these bills cannot be passed without Parliamentary scrutiny. Some of the less important Bills could be passed but not the ones like NIA Bill or DNA Bill," he said.

Sources said the government has not given any commitment on this. At present, the government is in the process of setting up Parliamentary Standing Committees.

On Tuesday morning, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O'Brien tweeted, "Parliament is supposed to scrutinise Bills. 2004-09 -- 60%, 2009-14 -- 71% and 2014-19 sadly only 26% of Bills scrutinised. In the first two weeks, ZERO % of Bills scrutinised. Dangerous for Parliamentary democracy. We have to scrutinise Bills, otherwise, what are we doing in Parliament?"

On Monday, the Lok Sabha has passed the NIA (Amendment) Bill that provides for declaring an individual a terrorist and allowing it to probe cases abroad. The passage of the Bill saw Home Minister Amit Shah putting the Opposition in a spot when he insisted on voting when a few Opposition MPs objected to the Bill.

It is to be seen what strategy the Opposition will adopt when the Bill comes to Rajya Sabha. Sources said Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has told the government to have consultations with Opposition to clear the bottlenecks.