NEW DELHI: With opposition benches at Rajya Sabha empty – its occupants withdrew on Tuesday saying they would boycott the proceedings until the suspension of eight MPs is revoked – the House passed seven bills, including one to return to the Lok Sabha, in a record time of three and a half hours.
Among the bills approved voice vote, with the minister’s discussion and response on each bill being completed in a matter of a few minutes, it was the bill (amendment) of the Indian institutes of information technology laws.
Bill that seeks to make taxation transparent returned to LS
While the first six bills were previously approved by Lok Sabha and will become laws with the presidential consent, the latest bill, which seeks to provide various reliefs in terms of compliance requirements for taxpayers amid the pandemic of coronavirus and also to make the tax process more transparent, it was returned to Lok Sabha.
Apart from the deputies from the ruling side, the only parties represented in the House at the time the bills were passed were BJD, TDP, YSR Congress and AIADMK. Although the president repeatedly called the names of opposition MPs according to the list of speakers provided, none were present, leaving a handful of non-BJP MPs to debate the bills. Two resolutions listed on behalf of the CPI deputy, Binoy Viswam and KC Venugopal and Digvijaya Singh from Congress, disapproving of the Banking Regulation Ordinance and Ordinance on Tax and Other Laws (Relaxation of Core Provisions), could not be moved due to your absence.
The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act seeks to bring cooperative banks under the supervision of the RBI. The Business (Amendment) Bill seeks to amend 48 sections to decriminalize various crimes and 13 sections to ensure “ease of life.” The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill seeks to alleviate excessive regulatory regime and establish the imposition of a storage limit for commodities only during calamities and famines.
Two bills: the Rashtriya Raksha University bill that seeks to improve Raksha Shakti University in Gandhinagar as an institution of national importance; and the National University of Forensic Sciences Bill which seeks to improve Gujarat University of Forensic Sciences was also passed.
On video: heated debate in Rajya Sabha, opposition says ‘revoke suspension of MPs’
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