The Budget session which was split into two parts (January 1 to February 11 and March 14 to April 8) had 29 sittings in total. While the first part of the session was used for tabling the Union Budget and the discussions on the Motion of Thanks to the President, the second part saw a few legislations tabled, discussed and passed.
Productivity and time-split
With the tabling of the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha, the Lower House spent the highest time (71.4 hrs) discussing financial issues. On the other hand, the Rajya Sabha spent most of its time discussing non-legislative issues — 53.3 hours. Legislative business was discussed for 29.1 hours (16.4%) in Lok Sabha and 17.5 hours (13.7%) in Rajya Sabha.
While there were fewer adjournments during the Budget session as compared to the Monsoon and Winter Parliamentary session, when both Houses were adjourned sine die, the Opposition claimed that the government ran away from discussing price rise.
Bills discussed and passed
As per PRS, seven new Bills were introduced in this session (six in Lok Sabha, one in Rajya Sabha) of which four were passed in both Houses. Only three bills — The Indian Antarctic Bill 2022, The Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill 2022, and The Constitution (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Orders (Second Amendment) Bill 2022 — remain pending in Rajya Sabha. No Bills have been sent to the Standing Committee. The Chartered Accountants Bill 2022 tabled in the Monsoon session was also passed now.
What were the key Bills?
Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill 2022: This Bill repeals The Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920 and implements its features. It allows police and prisons to collect, store and analyse physical, biological samples (including iris scan) and handwriting of arrested prisoners and persons detained under any preventive law.
The Bill also allows the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) to store, analyse collected samples for at least 75 years in its repository. Moreover, those prisoners refusing to allow collection or measurement physical samples can be penalised by authorities under appropriate sections of IPC.
Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill 2022: This Bill aims to unify the three Delhi municipal corporations — South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) — and transfer control to the Central government from Delhi government.
It also allows the Centre to appoint a Special Officer to 'exercise the power and discharge the functions of the Corporation until the first meeting of the new unified Corporation is held'. Also the seats in the new DMC will not exceed more than 250 — down from the existing 272 — and will be determined by the Centre at the time of establishment of the new Corporation.
Chartered Accountants Bill 2022: This Bill amends disciplinary mechanism for chartered accountants, cost accountants, and company secretaries. It also provides more external representation on the Disciplinary Committee and creates a Coordination Committee. The Committee, headed by the Secretary of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, will have representation from the three Institutes.
The President, in a non-executive role, will head the three Councils and will be responsible for ensuring implementation of decisions of the Council. Moreover, firms must now register with the Institutes and the three Councils must maintain all data regarding pendency of any actionable complaint or imposition of penalty.
Time spent on legislation and debate
The longest debate was witnessed over the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill 2022 — 8 hours 44 minutes in the Rajya Sabha, 4 hours 59 minutes in Lok Sabha. This was closely followed by the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill 2022 which saw a heated debate for 8 hours 23 minutes in the Rajya Sabha and 4 hours 45 minutes in Lok Sabha. Debate over The Chartered Accountants Bill 2022 was held for 7 hours 28 minutes in the Rajya Sabha and 4 hours 34 minutes in the Lok Sabha.
In the previous sessions, the BJP government has been accused by the Opposition of curtailing debates, questions and often skipping a formal vote on legislation, preferring voice vote. Most notably, during the Monsoon Session, Centre had passed 12 Bills in 10 days, clocking an average time of under seven minutes of debate as per PRS.
