Parliament clears 20 bills in Monsoon session

The Monsoon session of Parliament saw 20 bills being passed by the two Houses, out of which 22 were introduced in the Lok Sabha and one in the Rajya Sabha, according to an official release.

The 20 bills passed by the two Houses includes four bills related to Goods and Services Tax (GST) and two appropriation bills, the release from the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs said.

The six money bills have been passed by the Lok Sabha and have been sent to the Rajya Sabha.

With both Houses adjourned sine die on Friday, the bills will not return to the Lok Sabha within the stipulated period of 14 days and will be deemed to have been passed by the upper House.

The release said that "passage of 20 bills is an achievement considering that it was a short session".

Six Bills replacing the ordinances -- the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance, 2018; the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018; the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018; the Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018; the National Sports University Ordinance, 2018; and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018 -- were passed by both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Four old pending bills were withdrawn (three in the Lok Sabha and one in the Rajya Sabha).

These bills are the National Sports University Bill, 2017; the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Amendment)Bill, 2015; the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, 2017; and the Armed Forces Tribunal (Amendment) Bill, 2012.

The Lok Sabha passed 21 Bills in its 17 sittings that lasted 112 hours.

--IANS

ps/nir