Government, on the mat, agrees to tighten
Essential Commodities Act
A comprehensive bill on essential commodities, providing for stringent measures against hoarders, will be introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 9, Union Food Minister Surjit Singh Barnala promised members today.
With this pledge, Barnala bailed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government out of a crisis by averting what would have been the first trial of strength in the house.
Till then, the entire opposition had been insisting on a division on a motion on the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill. The government was reluctant to accept the challenge because the treasury benches were depleted.
The impasse led to three adjournments and noisy scenes.
The motion was moved by Shyam Bihari Mishra (BJP), chairman of the joint parliamentary committee on the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill. Mishra wanted an extension of the committee's tenure till the last day of the winter session.
The motion was put to a voice vote, but the entire opposition pressed for a division. The government was not ready for this. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana said party leaders could discuss the issue in the speaker's chamber.
Speaker G M C Balayogi agreed, but the opposition protested, saying a division was the only option since the motion had already been moved.
Thereafter, the house witnessed noisy scenes. Congress chief whip Prof P J Kurien and former speaker P A Sangma read out the relevant rules of procedure to insist that the speaker was left with no choice.
P Shiv Shankar, Rajesh Pilot, Ajit Jogi, K Karunakaran, (all Congress), Basudev Acharya (CPI-M), Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (RJD), S Jaipal Reddy (Janata Dal) and many others pleaded with Balayogi to follow the rules and permit voting. They also charged the government with diluting the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act and helping hoarders.
But Khurana maintained that the government was not diluting any provisions of the act. The issue could be settled in the speaker's chamber, he said, adding that he had already written to Mishra not to seek any extension and to submit the report forthwith.
With 15 minutes left for the lunch break, Balayogi adjourned the house.
Opposition members were upset by the speaker's reluctance to permit voting. Some of them trooped into the well of the house.
Raghuvansh Prasad Singh pointed out that the ordinance to replace the Essential Commodities Act had already lapsed and at present there is no law to check hoarding and black-marketing in essential commodities. The extension sought by the committee would only help hoarders to continue looting the people, he said.
Shiv Shankar said the opposition had opposed the very constitution of the committee since it felt matters would get delayed. But the government had used the opposition's objection to certain provisions of the revised ECA to set up the committee. And now it was seeking an extension for the committee.
When the house reassembled at 1.30pm, the opposition members reiterated their demand for voting on the motion. The speaker then adjourned the house till 2.15pm.
But even when the house reassembled after the second adjournment, the opposition did not relent. The chair then adjourned the house till 2.45pm.
The stand-off was resolved after Balayogi held an hour-long meeting with leaders of different political parties in his chamber.
Barnala then made the statement in the house and the opposition gave up its demand, ending the government's trauma.
UNI
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