Rajya Sabha Extended Till August 7, Question Hour Scrapped As Several Bills Remain Pending

New Delhi: The current Budget session of Parliament, which was to end on Friday, has been extended till August 7 to help transact essential government business, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu informed the House.

When the Upper House met for the day, Naidu said the sitting of the house has been extended till August 7.

During the extended tenure of the session, Question Hour has been dispensed away with, he said.

Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday about the extension of session.

Reading out the government agenda for the extended duration of Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan said on Friday that legislations including triple talaq bill that criminalises Muslim practice of instant divorce will be brought.

Lok Sabha had on Thursday passed the bill that provides for punishing those who practice triple talaq with a jail term of up to three years.

Other bills that will be brought will be The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill 2019 which aims to speed up the entire process of bankruptcy resolution and sets deadlines for completion.

Also listed is the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which seeks to tighten corporate social responsibility compliance and reduce the load of cases on the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill 2019, which is also called Anti-Terrorism Bill, and the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2019 are also listed, he said. The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill is also listed.

Other legislations that the government intends to bring during the extended tenure include the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, The Consumer Protection Bill, the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants), the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill, Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, the Code on Wages Bill and the National Institute of Design Bill, he said.

TMC leader Derek O'Brien suggested that since the Question Hour has been dispensed away with, the duration of the zero hour can be doubled to two hours - from 11 am to 1 pm on each day - to allow members to raise more issues.

He also said that opposition members have given a notice for short duration discussion on how to strengthen media and the same should be taken up.

Naidu said he will decide on taking up the discussion and also on the topic.