Pranab delays calling Parliament session, saves the day for govt

President Pranab Mukherjee averted a major constitutional crisis on Thursday when he raised questions over the two policy files the government sent him for his signature. One, an ordinance granting greater powers to the Securities and Exchange Board of India, and the other to summon the monsoon session of Parliament on August 5. How can you issue an ordinance along with summoning the Parliament session, he is learnt to have asked the government.

The Union cabinet had on Wednesday approved the proposal to amend the Sebi Act and other relevant regulations that would give greater powers to the regulator in its efforts to tackle all kinds of money-collection schemes, as also to effectively crack down on defaulters in the stock market, and it was decided to issue an ordinance to the effect.

In the meantime, the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs had also decided to summon the Parliament session on August 5. 

The two policy files were thus put up before the President.

Having dealt with constitutional issues before in various capacities when he was the trouble-shooter for the UPA government, Mukherjee was taken by surprise at the two files coming together, said sources. 

Soon after Pranab Mukherjee conveyed his displeasure to the government and kept the policy files with him for two hours, officials from the Prime Minister’s Office rushed to Rashtrapati Bhavan for clarifications. Mukherjee thus kept up the constitutional spirit by seeking the government’s views. However, for a few hours on Thursday, the PMO and the Cabinet Secretariat were in a tizzy over the dictums they received through sources in the President’s Secretariat.

Finally, on Thursday evening, the President signed the Sebi ordinance. Sources said the file on summoning the monsoon session of Parliament will be signed in a day or two, thus saving an embarrassment for the government.