Insurance Bills unlikely in last Lok Sabha session

Payment of Gratuity Bill may be taken up for passage.

The government is unlikely to risk passing any contentious legislation in the last session of the 14th Lok Sabha beginning tomorrow.

Despite its earlier efforts to put the insurance Bill and the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) Bill on a fast track, the finance ministry is not in favour of passing them during the coming session. This means the LIC Bill, seeking to raise the LIC equity base from Rs 5 crore to Rs 100 crore, will lapse. The Bill has already been tabled in the Lok Sabha. The Insurance Act (amendment) Bill, which aims to bring more FDI in the sector, will however lie in cold storage as it was tabled in the Rajya Sabha.

Amendments to the Banking Regulation Act are also not on the government’s priority list. The amendments seek to increase voting rights of shareholders in banks in proportion to the shareholding. Similarly, the Pension Regulatory Authority Bill — to give statutory power to the authority and extend the new pension scheme to the unorganised sector — also does not figure on the list.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi told Business Standard: “(Since) we have a short schedule, we are adjusting the government business accordingly.”

However, the long-pending gratuity Bill and three recent Ordinances will be part of the government agenda for the session beginning tomorrow, apart from the all-important Interim Railway and General Budgets. As Jharkhand is under President’s Rule, Parliament will also take up the constitutional responsibility of passing its Budget.

At the all-party meeting held here today, it was decided that the House would try to discuss and pass the Interim General Budget on February 20 and 24, while the Interim Railway Budget would be discussed and passed on February 18. The motion of thanks on President Pratibha Patil’s speech will be taken up on February 16 and 17.

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee hoped that the session would pass peacefully. “All members will behave responsibly. I don’t need to give any instructions,” he said after the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Opposition parties have asked for a detailed discussion on the Satyam fraud and massive job losses in different parts of the country due to the ongoing global recession.

As the government will get only 10 working days during the session, the Ordinance on the CISF Act, which allows deployment of CISF in private establishments, Judges Salary Bill, which seeks an increase in the salaries of High Court and Supreme Court judges, and the Central University Bill (to set up 12 new universities and upgrade another 3) will be given priority.

The Payment of Gratuity Bill (to provide gratuity benefits to teachers) is likely to be the only major Bill taken up for consideration and passing.