Will not allow joint sitting of parliament on land bill: CPI-M

The CPI-M on Tuesday said the opposition would not allow the vexed land bill to be either ratified or defeated in the Rajya Sabha so as to foil the NDA government's plans to get the legislation enacted through a joint session of parliament.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury's remarks came in response to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's assertion that the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill-2015, popularly called the Land Acquisition Bill, would be carried through by calling a joint session of parliament if it was not passed in the Rajya Sabha.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government lacks a majority in the upper house of parliament.

Refering to the constitution, Yechury said a joint parliamentary session can be called only after bill was ratified by one house and thrown out by the other. So a joint session can be called if the land acquisition bill was rejected by the Rajya Sabha after being cleared by the Lok Sabha.

"The bill is yet to be passed in the Rajya Sabha. There are various ways to prevent a bill from being passed. Neither will it be defeated too," he said.