The finance ministry has informed the parliamentary affairs ministry that the Fiscal Responsibility Bill as well as three other Bills relating to the amendment and repeal of economic laws, must be passed in the Budget session that began on Monday with the President's address to the joint session of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
These Bills should be passed before the first summer recess on May 13, senior government officials said.
The Fiscal Responsibility Bill joins the list of contentious Bills slated for introduction during the Budget session of Parliament and promises to make the session a stormy one.
Although several in the Congress have said that in principle the idea of fiscal responsibility is good, there is a problem with state governments accepting a central fiat that if the states do not display a quantifiable level of fiscal responsibility, they will get no funds from the Centre.
Former Lok Sabha Speaker and Congress leader Shivraj Patil, who was heading the standing committee that discussed the Bill, had recommended that no quantifiable limit for misdemeanour be prescribed.
The finance ministry is loath to accept this, but some preliminary discussions have taken place.
However, indications are that the expectation of Speaker Manohar Joshi, that the Budget session will go through as smoothly as the winter session which did record business, might be belied.
The must-pass Bills listed by the finance ministry is long: the repeal of Sica Bill, the banking services repeal Bill, the merchant shipping amendment Bill, the unorganised sector workers' Bill that will originate from the labour ministry, and so on.
The Fiscal Responsibility Bill would get topmost priority, officials in the ministry of parliamentary affairs said.
In addition, the Women's Reservation Bill, on which there is no consensus in Parliament, a Bill on pensions and yet another on whether the Prime Minister should be covered by a Lok Pal, are likely to cause a lot of disturbance in Parliament.
The controversial amendment to the Industrial Disputes Act has so far not been finalised, though it is expected to be introduced during the Budget session.
A late night meeting of the ruling National Democratic Alliance discussed the forthcoming Parliament session and the NDA's approach to it.