Centre looks to push 3 key bills this Parliament session

In this tumultuous budget session, the government has transacted limited legislative business and cleared only the budget proposals in both Houses. It has introduced just one bill related to the defence services.

The government will try to seek parliamentary approval for three key proposed laws, including the Inter-Services Organisations (Command, Control and Discipline) Bill, 2023, with four more working days left in the current session.

In this Budget session, the government has transacted limited legislative business. (ANI)

In a meeting involving government managers as well as opposition leaders on Tuesday, two hours have been allotted for discussion on each of these three bills in the Rajya Sabha. The proposed legislations will have to be first cleared by the Lok Sabha.

The other two bills are the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2022, and the Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022.

In this tumultuous budget session, the government has transacted limited legislative business and cleared only the budget proposals in both Houses. It has introduced just one bill related to the defence services.

The opposition’s demand for a joint parliamentary committee on the embattled Adani Group and the ruling side’s demand for an apology from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the initial days of the second half of the budget session did not leave much scope for work. Gandhi has since been disqualified from Parliament after conviction in a criminal defamation case.

The Finance Bill and demand for grants were cleared without any debate.

The defence legislation aims to empower the commanders of tri-services organisations to take action against service personnel of the army, air force and navy -- serving under existing or future joint commands or institutions -- to ensure discipline and effective discharge of duties amid a renewed push for theaterisation, a long-awaited military reform for the best use of the military’s resources to fight future wars.

On Tuesday, the government listed the biological diversity and competition bills in the Lok Sabha for passage, but frequent disruptions stalled proceedings in the House.

The government managers, however, are hopeful about the passage of these three bills as there are still four working days left as the session will run till April 6. There will be no early adjournment of the session. “The bills might also be pushed amid din as disruptions are likely to continue,” a Lok Sabha functionary said on condition of anonymity.

The inter-services bill assumes importance as existing legal framework of the armed forces has its limitations when it comes to tri-services matters, as officers of one particular service lack the authority to exercise disciplinary and administrative powers over personnel belonging to another service. For instance, a three-star general heading a joint command cannot take action against air force or navy personnel serving under him.

The biological diversity bill tries to simplify compliance for domestic companies and “users of codified traditional knowledge and AYUSH practitioners will be exempted from sharing benefits with local communities,” according to PRS Legislative Research, an independent non-profit.

The amendments to the Competition Act aim to define combinations as the acquisition, merger or amalgamation of one or more enterprises if they meet certain thresholds based on their assets or turnover.

“Combinations meeting these thresholds have to seek CCI’s (Competition Commission of India’s) approval. The Bill seeks to add an additional threshold of deal value of transactions for the notification and scrutiny of combinations. According to the provision, transactions with a value of more than ₹2,000 crore will have to be notified for CCI’s approval. Value of transaction is proposed to include every valuable consideration, whether direct, indirect, or deferred for any acquisition, merger, or amalgamation,” says PRS Legislative Research.