Cabinet meet on Sunday to discuss ordinances

It seems that the govt has made up its mind to bring anti-graft ordinances

The Union Cabinet will meet here tomorrow where it is likely to take up ordinances related to anti-corruption and rights-related issues whose consideration was deferred yesterday.

The decision to hold the Cabinet comes a day after government appeared to be having second thoughts on bringing ordinances, including those being pushed by Rahul Gandhi.

These ordinances were on the agenda of the Cabinet meeting yesterday but were deferred, apparently after senior minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar raised questions over the need for promulgation at the fag end of the tenure of the government.



He is understood to have said that there was no tearing hurry and the matter should be left for the future government to decide, sources said.

The government's reluctance is also believed to have been influenced by the fears that President Pranab Mukherjee might raise questions on similar grounds.

But the decision to hold the Cabinet tomorrow evening indicates that government has made up its mind to bring ordinances.

Sources in the government suggested that instead of bringing several ordinances, government could restrict itself to approve ordinances on Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill and Rights of Persons with Disability Bill. But there is no official word on this.

The Cabinet which met for nearly two hours yesterday decided to postpone the ordinances. These included ordinances on Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill and Right of Citizens for Time-Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill - both dealing with corruption, which were on the agenda of the meeting.    

These are among the anti-corruption bills being pushed by Rahul Gandhi to create a "framework" to fight graft.      

Along with these, the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, Rights of Persons with Disability Bill, Security Laws (Amendment) Bill and Delhi High Court Act (Amendment) Bill were also on the agenda.

These proposed legislations could not be passed during the extended Winter Session of Parliament due to disturbances.