Govt pins hope on passing land Bill in Monsoon session

With the land acquisition Bill referred to a Joint Committee of Parliament, Government hopes to get the legislation enacted by the end of the Monsoon session.
Sources said that by referring the bill to the joint panel, government has saved time and will now be able to implement the law by the end of next session this year.
They also said that once the report of the committee comes up before the Rajya Sabha, a member under the rules can only refer it back to the same Joint Committee.
The Rajya Sabha also loses the right to refer the bill to its own Select Committee now, as the same is being looked into by the Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament.

Sources add that once the report is returned by the joint panel, the Upper House will have to either accept the report or not and hence take a decision on passing the bill or rejecting it.
In case it rejects the bill after the committee report, this paves the way for a joint sitting of both the Houses of Parliament, which the government may prefer in that case and convert the bill into the law.

Faced with stiff resistance from opposition and allies, government was today forced to refer the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (second) Amendment Bill, which is aimed at altering the Act brought by UPA in 2013, to a Joint Committee of Parliament.

The government, which had promulgated ordinance twice on the bill since December last after it faced similar resistance earlier, agreed to refer it to the 30-member committee after allies Shiv Sena and Akali Dal joined opposition in Lok Sabha in opposing it.
The Joint Committee of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will have to submit its report on the first day of Monsoon session on the Bill which has already been passed by the Lower House.