Crucial bills lined up in Rajya Sabha

The Rajya Sabha is scheduled to consider some crucial bills including the coal mines bill in the remaining two sittings of parliament next week.

The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2014 seeks to facilitate auction of coal blocks further after the Supreme Court struck down allocation of over 200 coal blocks, holding the allocation process arbitrary and illegal.

The upper house is also to take up the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Amendment Bill, 2014, which seeks to extend the validity of an act that gives protection to unauthorized constructions and which is to expire by the end of this month, an official release said here Saturday.

Both the bills have been passed by the Lok Sabha.

The consideration and passage of the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, pending since 2008 in the Rajya Sabha, has been held up on account of the prevailing stalemate in the house over the opposition's demand for the prime minister's statement on the conversion issue.

The release said that the goods and services bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha with the aim of 'One Nation, One Market, One Tax'. The bill has been described by the government as the most far reaching tax reform since Independence.

The release said that there has been a sharp contrast in the working of the two houses of parliament.

While during the first four weeks of the winter session, Lok Sabha functioned for over 126 hours during the stipulated 20 sittings with a productivity of over 105 percent, the Rajya Sabha has seen only 68 percent work.

During this period, Lok Sabha has passed 17 bills as against only 11 by the upper house.