17 Oppn parties write to RS Chairman over hurried passage of Bills

Seventeen Opposition parties wrote to the Rajya Sabha Chairman, raising concerns over the 'hurried' passage of bills in Parliament without any scrutiny, and said that this was a departure from established practice.

New Delhi: 17 political parties on Friday jointly wrote a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu, expressing concern over the way the RTI (Amendment) Bill was passed in the Upper House.

The parties said that the government is hurriedly passing legislations without any scrutiny by Parliamentary Standing or Select Committees.

The 17 parties included the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, DMK, CPI(M), NCP, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Bahujan Samaj Party, Telugu Desam Party, Aam Aadmi Party, CPI, People's Democratic Party, IUML, and Janata Dal (Secular).

The parties wrote expressed concern over four issues - the scrutiny of Bills by Parliamentary Committees, the number of sittings, violation of Rule 95, and discussion under Rule 176.

Stating that Bills 71 per cent of Bills in the 15th Lok Sabha and 26 per cent in the subsequent year were sent for scrutiny, the parties expressed concern over the fact that none of the 14 Bills passed in the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha were referred to a Standing Committee.

"Public consultation is a long established practice where parliamentary committees scrutinise bills, deliberate, engage and work towards improving the content and quality of the legislation," the letter stated.

The parties also asked Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to intervene in the matter.

Read: Parliament approves amendment to RTI act