Ministers could meet Rahul Gandhi for GST compromise talks

While the government is likely to reach out to the Congress for the smooth passage of the constitution amendment Bill on goods and services tax (GST) and senior ministers might meet Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi for negotiations, several new Bills are scheduled to be tabled in the Lok Sabha next week.

These Bills will include the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill and amendments to the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) (Amendment) Bill. These two were approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday and are to be introduced in the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha will take up the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority Bill on Monday. Backchannel talks between Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Digvijaya Singh and Shanta Ram Naik with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on CAMPA have led to some give and take, a spirit the government hopes will infuse the negotiations on GST as well.

Apart from this, the Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws and Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Bill could also be taken up in the Lok Sabha. It was sent to a 30-member joint committee, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party’s Bhupender Yadav, during the Budget session on May 12. The committee will submit its report on Friday. According to sources, the Bill has been adopted unanimously by the committee with no dissent notes.

The Bill aims to take effective steps to improve ease of doing business and plug the gaps in procedural requirements of Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRT), including recommending a mechanism to ensure that no posts remain vacant in DRTs. It will also recommend more regulatory powers to the Reserve Bank of India and better diligence to curb non-performing assets. The Bill is synchronous to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code that Parliament passed in the Budget session. On Tuesday, the Lok Sabha passed the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016, and the Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2016, after five-hour discussions. On Thursday, it passed the National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

“The passage of these Bills shows there is a positive attitude among members towards legislative business, so we are planning and keen to introduce four more Bills in this session,” said Ananth Kumar, parliamentary affairs minister.

The Transgender Rights Bill aims to evolve a mechanism for empowerment of the community. The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) (Amendment) Bill, 2015 aims to strengthen legal and administrative procedures to overcome practical difficulties which may arise in the implementation of its provisions when it becomes an Act. It empowers the government to confiscate benami property by following due procedure. However, those who declare their benami properties under income declaration scheme will get immunity under the Benami Act.