Insurance Bill introduced in Lok Sabha amid opposition

NEW DELHI: Amid stiff Opposition resistance, the government today introduced in the Lok Sabha the Bill replacing the controversial Insurance Laws (Amendment) Ordinance which seeks to raise the cap of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector from 26 to 49 per cent.

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 3

Amid stiff Opposition resistance, the government today introduced in the Lok Sabha the Bill replacing the controversial Insurance Laws (Amendment) Ordinance which seeks to raise the cap of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector from 26 to 49 per cent.

The Bill was introduced by MoS Finance Jayant Sinha after CPM and RSP members demanded a voting on the motion which was carried out with 131 votes in its favour and 34 against. The Opposition’s reservation was – how can the government introduce in the Lok Sabha a Bill whose original version is pending in the Rajya Sabha.

The government for its part maintained that it was within its right to decide in which House to introduce the Bill to replace an existing ordinance. “The government can decide that. We are constitutionally obliged to replace the ordinance with a Bill and that’s what we are doing. We have the Speaker’s permission.” An unimpressed Opposition, however, forced a division of votes which it lost.

The introduction of the Bill replacing the insurance ordinance and another replacing the ordinance amending the Motor Vehicles Act to relax driving licence conditions for e-cart pullers raised important questions of law today.

In the Rajya Sabha, MPs of the Samajwadi Party, CPM, TMC and Congress asked Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien whether the government could introduce in the other House Bills pending in the Rajya Sabha. While Kurien reserved his judgement on the issue saying he would seek constitutional opinion on the matter, the government went ahead to introduce the Bill in the Lok Sabha.

This it did after the Opposition last week used its majority in the Rajya Sabha to defeat the government’s move to withdraw the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008, the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2014 and the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2014 pending for discussion and passage in the House.

The government is building a ground to call a joint session to pass the Bills in case the Rajya Sabha resists its approval yet again as it has been doing.

Bill on e-rickshaws passed

That apart, the Lok Sabha today also passed the Bill replacing the ordinance amending the Motor Vehicle Act which relaxes driving licence issuance conditions for close to 1 lakh e-rickshaw pullers in New Delhi, half of them being in the New Delhi parliamentary segment.

The united opposition slammed the use of an ordinance route by the government to pass Bills such as the Motor Vehicle Act amendment and the Citizenship Amendment Bill to merge the Persons of Indian Origin and OCI cards, saying neither of these two Bills satisfied the conditions prescribed for ordinance issuance in the Constitution.