Rajya Sabha dominated by Opposition but wrong to call Upper House 'obstructionist': Naidu

Opposition has dominated Rajya Sabha in the 39 of its 68 years of existence but no case can be made against the Upper House of being "obstructionist" in lawmaking, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said on Wednesday as he cited controversial laws clearing the hurdle despite the Narendra Modi government being a minority in the Upper House.

His remarks came in a Facebook post on the occasion of the 68th anniversary of the first sitting of the Rajya Sabha on May 13, 1952, even as several government functionaries accuse the Opposition of using its numbers in the Upper House to stall legislation.

He said the mode of election and tenures of Rajya Sabha could lead to a situation where the government of the day having majority in the Lok Sabha as required and not having the numbers in Rajya Sabha.

"During the last 68 years, the Governments of the day had majority in the Rajya Sabha only for 29 years and were in minority for 39 years including at a stretch for the last 31 years since 1989. The first time that the Government of the day fell into minority was during 1968-70. Did this shortage of numbers in the second chamber for the Governments affect the legislation?" he asked.

He said several major bills, including Goods and Service Tax, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, Triple Talaq, Reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir, amending Citizenship Act, were passed during the Modi government's tenure though it does not have majority in the Rajya Sabha.

"This suggests that no case can be made against the Rajya Sabha as being obstructionist in lawmaking. But other concerns have emerged over time," he said while giving details of other instances too when the government managed to pass legislation despite not having numbers in the Upper House.

Since its first sitting, Naidu said, Rajya Sabha held 5,472 sittings and passed as many as 3,857 Bills till the Budget session this year and the time spent by the Rajya Sabha on legislation remained at 29% of the total functional time of the House irrespective of it’s composition.

"Three joint sittings of both the Houses had to be held in 1961, 1978 and 2002 when Rajya Sabha rejected the Dowry Prohibition Bill, 1959, the Banking Services Commission Bill, 1977 and the Prevention of Terrorism Bill, 2002. The then government had majority in the Rajya Sabha in 1959. Rajya Sabha also differed with the Lok Sabha in respect of other Bills including abolition of privy purses to former rulers in 1970, empowering Panchayats and Municipalities in 1989 etc but they were enacted later," he said.

While noting that the Upper House also delayed passing of several Bills after they were cleared by the Lok Sabha and if these amounted to checking ‘hasty legislation’, he said the Rajya Sabha also passed five Constitution Amendment Bills in a single day on 25 August, 1994 when the then Government did not have the numbers.

Naidu said disruptions and sliding productivity of the Rajya Sabha has emerged as a "major concern over the last 23 years".

The functional productivity of the Rajya Sabha has been broadly about 100% till 1997 but this fell to 87% during 1998-2004, to 76% during 2005-14 and to 61% during 2015-19.

"Of the 43 years since 1978, annual productivity of the Rajya Sabha has been 100% or more only during 12 years. This includes such good performance over a stretch of 11 years during 1980-90. During the 29 years since 1991, annual productivity of 100% has been recorded only in 1992. The lowest annual productivity of 38.63% was recorded in 2018," he added.

If the perception is that political consideration form the basis of rising disruption, he said, it needs to be addressed by all the stakeholders including all sections of the Rajya Sabha. "The line between obstruction and disruption is very thin and need to be put aside," he added.