Finance-related bills will be tabled for approval and presentation in Parliament on Friday, amid mounting Covid-19 cases within the Parliament complex, posing new challenges ahead of the monsoon session.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will introduce the Tax and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Bill, 2020. The bill will replace an ordinance that was enacted on March 31 to provide certain relaxations related to the compliance, such as the extension of the time limit and exemption from penalties, in relation to the Income Tax Law of 1961 (Information Technology Law), some Financial Laws, the Central Law of Excise Tax of 1944, the Law 1962 Customs Law and the Benami Real Estate Transaction Ban Act of 1988.
Parliament will quickly clear the supplemental grant demand and related appropriation bills at the Lok Sabha on Friday. Appropriation bills or additional budget support to some ministries ask if some ministries need extra money to deal with overspending.
Sitharaman will also pass the Companies Bill (Amendment) 2020, Qualified Financial Contracts Bilateral Offset Bill, 202, and the Factoring Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2020 for approval.
In Rajya Sabha, the government will try to pass the Central Council of Homeopathy Bill (Amendment), 2020 and the Central Council of Medicine Bill (Amendment) of India, 2020.
The Ayush ministry will also submit the bill to amend the Indian Central Council of Medicine Act 1970 for approval. The 2020 Ministers ‘Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, which was introduced to cut MPs’ salaries by 30%, will also pass in the Upper House. Indian Institutes of Information Technology Bill (Amendment) 2020 will also be passed.
The Parliament complex will also put in place a stricter health security protocol under which parliamentarians will be encouraged to undergo a new round of RT-PCR tests even as disinfection of the chambers and the building of the Parliament after the recent Covid cases.
“No formal instructions have been issued to MPs yet, as we saw that many of them are already taking a repeat RT-PCR test on their own. The president’s office has already made it clear that any legislator is free to take as many tests as he wants, ”said a senior official involved in security planning.
An internal Lok Sabha circular, to which HT had access, said that any ministry official who wants to come to the Officers’ Gallery must show the negative RT-PCR report. “Officials issued with ‘official gallery’ passes must carry / display their RT-PCR (negative) report for Covid-19 no more than 72 hours before their visit to the House of Parliament.
The official gallery is right next to the first row of the government benches and several ministry officials sit there to help their ministers when there is a debate related to their sector.
Both Rajya Sabha President Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha President Om Birla hastily consulted various experts and legislators before adjusting current Covid security protocols. The three new cases involving parliamentarians left the two presidents concerned and resulted in a stringent new set of rules.
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