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A view of the Lok Sabha during the Budget session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Friday (PTI)[/caption]
New Delhi, June 21 (PTI): Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday suggested that any bill pending for more than five years in the Upper House should be considered lapsed.
He also called for a debate on the rule that provides for automatic lapsing of any bill passed by the Lok Sabha but pending in the Rajya Sabha with the dissolution of the lower house of Parliament.
Expressing concern over loss of time due to disruptions, he said the present "dysfunctional, disruptive environment must change" and further weakening of democratic structures cannot be allowed.
Naidu said as many as 22 bills, pending in the Rajya Sabha, had lapsed with the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha last month and another 33 bills have been pending consideration in the Upper House for years including three that have been pending for more than 20 years.
Under the provision of the Constitution, Bills passed by the Lok Sabha during the course of its five year term and pending in the Rajya Sabha get lapsed with the dissolution of the House of the People. Separately, any Bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha remained a property of the House irrespective of the fate of Lok Sabha.
"In effect, the Lok Sabha has to take up these 22 bills again for consideration and passing. I am afraid it would take a minimum of two sessions for doing so. And this means that efforts of the Lok Sabha for passing these 22 bills have been rendered waste," he said, adding bills that lapsed include land acquisition bill, triple talaq bill, Aadhaar amendment bill and Motor Vehicles Bill.
Given the implications, "There is a need to rethink the provision regarding lapsing of bills in the Upper House of Parliament," he said.
"I suggest a wider debate on the matter of automatic lapsing of Bills in Rajya Sabha," he said.
Naidu said of the 33 bills pending for years, the oldest pending bill, the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 1987, has been pending for more than 32 years.
Two other bills are pending for more than 20 years, six are pending between 10 and 20 years and 14 bills are pending between 5 and 10 years.
"Such long pendency does not reflect well on the functioning of the Parliament," he said.
"In order to streamline the process, I suggest that if a Bill is not taken up for consideration and passing in Rajya Sabha within five years of introduction of such bills, such pending bills should be treated as deemed to have lapsed," he said.
He also sought a debate on the reasons why there was a wide gap between the number of bills passed by the 16th Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, especially when compared to the 15th Lok Sabha.
"I am not for a moment suggesting that one House of the Parliament should blindly follow the other House. Careful consideration by both Houses is absolutely required. Informed debates and reasoned argumentation is the heart of Parliamentary democracy," he said.
All stakeholders, he said, need to give a serious thought to the decision making process and see if dialogue and debate can follow the path of consensus building and searching for the 'meeting ground' or the 'zone of convergence' rather than expanding the 'zone of divergence', he said.
"I fervently appeal to all Parliamentarians to make an inspiring fresh start beginning with this season," he said adding it was a collective duty to strive for better and effective performance.
Naidu said he has been "deeply disturbed" by the recent happenings in the House. "The trust and confidence of people in our institutions is getting eroded. This downslide should end."
The Rajya Sabha on Friday rejected by voice vote a bill seeking setting up of a system to improve productivity of Parliament.
The Parliament (Enhancement of Productivity) Bill, 2017 was introduced by Naresh Gujaral (SAD) and the House discussed it for two and half hours.
Since, Gujaral was not present, Deputy Chairman Harivansh put the bill to vote, which was defeated by voice vote.
In his reply, Railways and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said, "All leaders and members should sit together and decide. But we cannot pass a private member bill on this."
The bill seeks for establishment of an effective system to prevent and address the decline in productivity of Parliament due to disruptions of sittings, by means of an appropriate legal framework to fix the minimum number of days in a year for which Parliament shall be in sessions, introduction of special session in addition to the existing three sessions, compensation for the hours unutilised due to disruptions, and to provide obligations of the presiding officers of both houses and the members of Parliament.
V Vijaysai Reddy move another private member's bill - The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (insertion of new articles 330A and 332A) - which seeks reservation for backward classes in Parliament.
Reddy stressed that less than 20 per cent of the members are from other backward classes.
He said that in 2001, the percentage of OBC members in Parliament was 18 while it was just 11 per cent in 1984.
He also demanded that there should be a special ministry to look into the welfare of OBCs.
Earlier, as many as 26 private member bills were introduced by members which would be taken up for discussion later.