AFTER FORTNIGHT OF DISRUPTION, RS PASSES 3 BILLS IN 15 MINUTES

NEW DELHI: Racing against time to pass stalled bills after losing almost two weeks to disruptions, the Rajya Sabha on Monday cleared three bills, including the crucial SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, in flat 15 minutes, without any discussion.

The bills were passed unanimously through a voice vote when the House reconvened in the afternoon after four adjournments in the morning.

The House also returned to Lok Sabha the two Appropriation bills containing the second batch of supplementary demands as part of grants for 2015-16 to meet government’s expenditure.

Soon after the House reconvened at 2pm, the Opposition protested the government’s move to bring the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Bill through the supplementary agenda. Following this, deputy chairman PJ Kurien took up three bills, which were passed unanimously.

However, after the bills were passed, Congress members resumed their protest, demanding finance minister Arun Jaitley’s resignation over the DDCA controversy.

With Congress members not relenting, Kurien had to adjourn the House. The House reconvened a g ain at 3pm with parliamentary affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu’s appeal to members to clear the backlog of pending legislative business.

The Opposition, however, did not relent.