An Overview of the Winter Session of Parliament

The winter session of the Parliament ended on Tuesday, December 23, 2014. As reported, the Parliament sat from November 24 to December 23 and had 22 sittings. At the starting of the session, the Parliament had 67 bills pending before it, 59 in the Rajya Sabha and 8 in the Lok Sabha.Out of the pending 67 bills, nine were introduced in the previous session and 40 were introduced during the term of 15th Lok Sabha, the time of the UPA II. The remaining 18 have been pending for long, and were introduced during times before UPA II came into power.The previous Lok Sabha was also dubbed as the worst performer ever with 11 of Human Resource Development Ministry’s Bills having lapsed.The winter session of the Parliament witnessed several disruptions. While the Lower House lost 3 hours due to adjournments and disruptions; the Upper House lost 62 hours. Interestingly, the Government enjoys a majority in the Lok Sabha while number of members of NDA in Rajya Sabha is not enough to constitute a majority.As the session has ended, it is only just that we analyze what our lawmakers did during the winter session:Post the session, Status of Government Bills is as follows:Bills pending before session 67Bills introduced during session 17Bills passed during session 12Bills withdrawn during session 6Bills pending at the end of session 66The Parliament witnessed many important developments on the law-making fronts. These include:The Union Law Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda informed the Upper House of the Parliament that there is “divergence of opinion among the state governments and the High Courts on constitution of All India Judicial Services”.Gowda reportedly spoke about the Prime Minister’s view of repealing obsolete laws. He also added that pendency of cases in courts was an issue and certain legislative changes to Arbitration and Conciliation Act and the Motor Vehicles Act were being considered by the government. The Law Commission of India had also suggested major changes to the Arbitration Act in its 246th report.Replying to a question in the Parliament, the Union Law Minister Sadananda Gowda reportedlysaid that there is no proposal to increase the retirement age of judges of the Supreme Court from the present 65 years to 68 years. He added that as on December 1, there exist 3 vacancies in the Supreme Court, which has a sanctioned strength of 31.Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2014, introduced by the UPA government in Rajya Sabha in February 2014, received the nod from the Standing Committee.The Bill aims to raise the pecuniary jurisdiction of civil courts in Delhi from Rs. 20 lakhs to Rs. 2 crore.“There is no proposal to increase the judge strength of the Supreme Court” the Union Law Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda informed the lower house of the parliament through a written reply.The Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2014 was passed by the Lok Sabha through a voice vote. The Bill was introduced in the lower house by Mr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.The Lok Sabha passed the Companies amendment Bill, 2014, which provides for severe punishment for those raising illegal deposits from the public. The Union Cabinet had approved the amendments earlier this month.While the Lok Sabha passed most of the bills introduced, the Rajya Sabha had patchy proceedings with several disruptions. Most of the Bills have been referred to Standing Committees or pending before them. On the whole, the Rajya Sabha saw more drama than action.As the drama continued, the Parliament did manage to do perform some legislative tasks. Following is the list as reported by the New Indian Express.Legislative Business Undertaken during Winter Session, 2014 Bills Passed by Parliament in Winter Session, 2014The Apprentices (Amendment) Bill, 2014The Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by certain Establishments) Amendment Bill, 2011The Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2014The Indian Institutes of Information Technology Bill, 2014The Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2014The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2014The Textile Undertakings (Nationalization) Laws (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2014The Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Bill, 2013The Merchant Shipping (Second Amendment) Bill, 2013The School of Planning and Architecture Bill, 2014Bills Passed by Lok Sabha but not passed by Rajya Sabha in Winter Session, 2014The Repealing and Amending (Second) Bill, 2014The Payment and Settlement Systems (Amendment) Bill, 2014The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2014The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Amendment Bill, 2014The National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Amendment Bill, 2014The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2014The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2014The Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2014Bills Introduced in Lok Sabha but not passed in Winter Session, 2014The Lokpal and ...

An Overview of the Winter Session of Parliament

T.Mohan / Gaurav Pathak

Tags