Finance Bill to be taken up in Lok Sabha at noon

The Lok Sabha will take up the Finance Bill as well as the Appropriation Bills this noon, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan announced today amid noisy protests by members of opposition and some NDA constituents in the House.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan agreed with the views of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar that the guillotine (end of discussion on various demands for grants), the Finance Bill and the Appropriation Bills be taken up at 12 noon instead of 5 pm.

Kumar said the government has been making efforts to run the House for the past one-and-a-half week and is ready to discuss any issue, but since the proceedings have remained disrupted, the key money bills should be taken up at 12 noon.

Voicing unhappiness over stalling of House proceedings, Mahajan said urgent legislative business cannot be further delayed, hence the money bills will be taken up at 12 noon.

She said the other issues listed for the day would be taken up later.

She then adjourned the House till 12 noon amid protests by the Congress, TDP, TRS YSR Congress, PMK over several issues, including the PNB scam, special package for Andhra Pradesh, defacement of Periyar statue in Tamil Nadu and enhanced quota for Telangana.

The Lok Sabha was yesterday also scheduled to take up the Finance Bill 2018 and the Appropriation bills. However, due to continued protests, no legislative business could be carried out.

The Lok Sabha has failed to transact substantial business on account of frequent disruptions since March 5 when the second leg of the Budget Session of Parliament commenced.