Many Bills passed in recent Parliament session violated federal values: TMC MP

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien on Thursday questioned the legislations passed in the just-concluded session of Parliament and said many of them violated federal values of the Constitution, a day after Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu hailed the session for its performance clearing 32 Bills, the highest in 17 years for a session. "One out of four bills passed attacked the federal structure laid down by the Constitution and dilutes the state's powers," O' Brien said.

He said that while the opposition played a constructive role the government was not equally cooperative. The legislations on which majority of the regional parties have raised this objection include the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Right to Information Act and the NIA Act, he said.

In case of the UAPA Act the latest amendments gives the Home Ministry powers to declare any individual as terrorist and attach such a person's property without consulting the state police. Similarly, in RTI act the new amendments ensure that the Centre gets to decide terms and conditions of employment of even state information officers in the garb of bringing in uniformity across the country. The new NIA Act similarly ensure that the local police need not be informed before arrests or raids.

Brien also questioned why the government did not bring the Women's Reservation Bill that would ensure 33 per cent reservation for women or the data protection Bill in Parliament. "It depends not how many hours you spend with the tutor, it depends on the marksheet and quality of college you get into," Brien said.

He said that no Bill was sent to the select committee or standing committee during this session. In 14th Lok Sabha, sixty per cent of the Bills were sent to standing committee, in 15th Lok Sabha this increased to 71 per cent and in 16th Lok Sabha during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first regime only 26 per cent went through this process.

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