Real Estate Bill to be referred to RS panel

The controversial Real Estate Bill, that seeks to regulate realty business will be referred to a Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha, where government is not in a position to get it passed due to lack of numbers.
Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu will move a motion in Rajya Sabha tomorrow in this regard.
The 21-member Select Committee will be asked to table its report to the Rajya Sabha by the last day of the first week of the next session.
The proposed 21 members of the Select Committee are Anil Madhav Dave, Mansukh Lal Mandaviya, Shamsher Singh Manhas, Shantaram Naik, M V Rajeev Gowda, Kumari Selja, Naresh Agrawal, K C Tyagi, Md Nadimul Haque, A W Rabi Bernard, Munquad Ali, K N Balagopal, A U Singh Deo, C M Ramesh, Majeed Memon, K P Ramalingam, Anil Desai, Naresh Gujral, Nazir Ahmed Laway, D Kupendra Reddy and Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

Earlier in the day, the bill was put off indefinitely after a united opposition in the Upper House insisted on sending it to a Select Committee of Parliament in Rajya Sabha where the ruling NDA is in a minority.
The Real Estate (Amendment) Bill was listed for consideration and passing but opposition members objected to this, saying Naidu had assured the House that it will be brought only after consultations with various parties.

Sensing the mood, the government, which faces numbers crunch in the Upper House, said it was not insistent on taking up the bill even though it was listed.

Naidu said he would like the House to consider, before the end of this session on May 13, whether or not to send the bill to a Select Committee. However, some members objected to this also, prompting the Minister to say that he will bring the bill only after after consultations are completed.
Earlier on April 29 also, the government was forced to defer the bill after opposition insisted on sending it to a Select Committee for proper scrutiny.
Rahul Gandhi had raised the issue on Saturday after a meeting with flat owners and had dubbed the bill as pro-builders after which Congress further toughened its stand on the issue.