Govt within its rights to take Ordinance route: Jaitely

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the government was well within its rights to take the Ordinance route amidst an uproar in the Rajya Sabha over the Land Acquisition Bill.

"The government is within its rights to take the Ordinance route. Ordinances are bypassing Parliament is not a valid argument," Jaitley said in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament.

Congress leader Anand Sharma, however, shot back saying Jaitley expected the Parliament to rubber stamp the Ordinances.

"What is the need for BJP government to bring in a new ordinance every 27 days? You (Arun Jaitley) expect Parliament to rubber stamp your ordinances, you don't send anything to standing committee," she said.

The government is today introducing the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015 in the Parliament to replace the Land Acquisition Ordinance.

The government had last year in December circulated the ordinance which had brought changes in the previous bill passed in 2013 by the UPA regime.

Earlier in the day, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge had termed the Land Acquisition Bill as 'anti-farmer' and added that his party will counter it tooth and nail by taking support from all the opposition parties.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislators also staged a protest against the Land Acquisition Bill outside the Parliament.