Finance minister Arun Jaitley and junior parliamentary affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi foxed the thinly-populated opposition in the Rajya Sabha on Friday afternoon to ensure that the legislation is approved just in time to avoid re-promulgation of an ordinance.
The Opposition has been holding up the passage of the enemy property bill in the Upper House forcing the government to resort to re-promulgation of the ordinance five times during the tenure of the NDA government for want of the Rajya Sabha’s approval.The legislation concerns over 16,500 property worth about .`1 lakh crore of those who migrated to Pakistan.
Currently, they are vested with a government appointed custodian. Litigations by various citizens, distant relatives of the original owners, has created hindrance as the existing legislation doesn’t allow the custodian to dispose the property. The new legislation will make disposal of any such property easier.
The current ordinance was about to lapse, as Parliament must pass a bill to replace any ordinance within six weeks of its sitting. The deadline for the enemy property ordinance was March 14, as the Budget session commenced on January 31.
The Opposition was unaware of the Government’s urgency. With Friday being a private members’ business day, the Rajya Sabha took up introduction of a clutch of private members’ legislations and continued with discussion on private members’ legislation in the afternoon.
The government move came after the statutory 5 pm deadline for private members’ business time concluded in the Rajya Sabha. Though there were other private members’ bills listed for consideration the absence of the members piloting the legislation provided the government with an excuse to push for the enemy property bill that was listed for the day’s business.
“Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi did not officially issue a whip for treasury members as it would have alerted Opposition MPs. Naqvi, however, ensured that enough members were available in the House to ensure the quorum for passing the legislation, in case of an Opposition walkout to stall passage of the bill by bringing down the House attendance below the quorum.
It worked,” confided a government floor manager involved in the ploy. The objections by Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Shekhar Roy and Samajwadi Party’s Javed Ali Khan did not carry the day for want of enough opposition MPs to press the issue. Racing against time, the government completed the paperwork to ensure the passage of the legislation. The Lok Sabha had approved the legislation last year.
The Lok Sabha secretary-general made the announcement that the bill has been passed by the Elders before the House was adjourned for the day.
Source - ET Realty
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