Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday said that the just-concluded monsoon session of Parliament was historic since it saw several important social legislations being passed including the Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, the amended Hindu Succession Bill and the Domestic Violence Bill.
What the minister did not say was that important financial and economic bills, including the Chartered Accountants (Amendment) Bill, 2003, the Cost and Works Accountants (Amendment) Bill, 2003 and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, a bouquet of three reforms in company affairs, could not come up in this session.
The session had 24 sittings in all with over 16 Bills being cleared.
"What is also unusual about this session is that two adjournment motions were moved in the Lok Sabha, one on the IMDT Act, and the other on the Nanavati Commission report on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots," said Azad.
However, he said that unlike the last session much more business could be conducted in the House because of the Opposition's decision to carry on work and not boycott Parliament.
He added that the government had extended the Parliament session by two days in the hope of conducting more work especially in relation to arriving at a consensus on several Bills, like the Pension Fund Regulatory Authority Bill, and the Banking Regulation Bill.
The two Bills have not yet been introduced in Parliament because of differences with the Left.
"We do believe, however, that one of the biggest achievements of this session apart from the Rural Employment Bill is the growing consensus among all parties on the Women's Reservation Bill," he said.
Although he did not comment on the outcome of the deliberations, sources indicate that Election Commission's suggestion that political parties reserve 33 per cent of tickets in elections for women will probably be adopted by all political parties.
Of the 10 bills that the government had slated for passage in this session, five were passed.
Of the non-legislative business, the target set by the government has been met, as the resolution to extend President's rule in Bihar and the resolution to adopt the recommendations of the Railway Convention Committee (2004) were cleared by the two Houses.
All the financial matters, including supplementary demand for grants by the Railway and Finance Ministry were also cleared during the Monsoon session.
