42 hours of business lost, four Bills passed without debate in Parliament

The curtains came down on Monsoon session of the Parliament today prematurely due to the stand-off between the Government and the Opposition over the latters demand for setting up of a Parliamentary panel to look into the Indo-US nuclear deal, but in the ensuing protests 42 precious hours of parliamentary business were lost and four Bills had to be passed without a single debate.

New Delhi, Sept 10 : The curtains came down on Monsoon session of the Parliament today prematurely due to the stand-off between the Government and the Opposition over the latter's demand for setting up of a Parliamentary panel to look into the Indo-US nuclear deal, but in the ensuing protests 42 precious hours of parliamentary business were lost and four Bills had to be passed without a single debate.

The Monsoon Session was adjourned sine die today, four days ahead of its schedule as the Opposition did not allow the Parliament to function continuously for the last few days.

"No JPC, no Parliament," was the refrain from the opposition quarters, referring to their demand for setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to review the bilateral 123-agreement with the US that lays the first step towards operationalisation of the civilian nuclear energy cooperation with the US.

However, the continuous disruptions of the Parliament by the Opposition members left the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Somnath Chatterjee in bad taste.

"The highest public forum in this country has almost come to a standstill which has raised questions about the utility of our system of Parliamentary democracy and about its future," said Chatterjee before announcing the sine die adjournment of the session.

This session of the Parliament, which witnessed many dramatic developments, cleared 10 Bills, including the Competition Bill.

The much awaited debate on the Indo-US nuclear deal also did not take place as the opposition insisted that the debate should be held under Rule 168 in Rajya Sabha and under Rule 184 in the Lok Sabha, that entail voting.

However, the government, which is also facing ire from the Left on the issue, said that debate under such provisions would not be held, and had already rejected the Opposition's demand for constituting a JPC.

The loss of 42 hours in the present session of the Parliament that began on August 10 means the loss of approximately Rs 5.5 crores of the taxpayers' money.

ANI