Ordinance route was the only way out for govt: Sena editorial

As President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday signed ordinances on raising FDI in insurance sector and facilitating e-auction of coal blocks, Shiv Sena said taking the ordinance route will keep a “sword dangling over the Centre’s head” in the next six months.

“Constitutional provisions have their own limitations. These (the ordinances) have to be ratified within 6 months by Parliament for them to become law. Since the government does not have the required numbers in Rajya Sabha, the ordinance route will be like a sword dangling over the head of the government,” Sena, a constituent of the ruling NDA, said in an editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

It, however, said promulgating ordinances to push reforms in the insurance and coal sectors was the “only way out” given the uproar created by the opposition in Rajya Sabha. “The opposition created an uproar in Rajya Sabha on the conversion issue because of which important bills could not be taken up for consideration. The government had to find a way to improve the economic condition of the country. Therefore, ordinance was the only way out,” it said.

The Cabinet had on Wednesday cleared the ordinance to increase FDI cap from 26 to 49% in the insurance sector and re-promulgation of the ordinance to allow resumption of coal block allocation. Both the measures could not be taken up in Rajya Sabha during the Winter Session that concluded on Tuesday following repeated disruptions over religious conversion and other issues.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had even hinted that the government may go for a joint session of Parliament for passage of the insurance bill if it was blocked again in Rajya Sabha. “There is still a mechanism” even if one of the Houses does not pass a measure, Jaitley had said on Wednesday, apparently hinting at calling a joint session of Parliament, adding “stalemate and obstructionism cannot go on in perpetuity”. PTI