New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS) Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal Wednesday dismissed suggestions that Congress MP K. Keshava Rao had gone against the party by making critical remarks on a bill piloted by Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal in the Rajya Sabha, leading to it being deferred to the next session of parliament.
Bansal told reporters in response to questions that party members have a right to express their views and the question of going against the party comes only at the time of voting on a bill.
Bansal said that Rao had Tuesday categorically said in the house that he was not opposing the bill.
However, Congress leaders chose not to react to Rao’s speech, saying that such matters were dealt by the parliamentary party which had its own set up.
During the Tuesday’s debate on the Educational Tribunals Bill, 2010, which was later deferred to next session, Rao lambasted the minister, calling him a ‘first class file pusher’ whose thoughts ‘run faster than (his) deeds’.
He also said that none of the bills brought by the minister including the Right to Education bill had yielded the desired results.
Sibal met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday evening. Sources said he raised the issue of ‘mismanagement’ in the house.
The sources said the decision to defer the bill was taken by the Congress floor managers after getting a sense that the bill will run into stiff resistance given the tone and tenor of speeches by the members.
The sources said that the government did not want to rush the bill through din and a division could have proved risky as the United Progressive Alliance lacks majority in the upper house.
In his reply to the debate on the bill, which had been passed by the Lok Sabha, Sibal rejected the contention that it was brought in a hurry or the suggestions of the standing committee had been disregarded. He also said the bill will not have an impact on jurisdiction of states.
Sibal said that if the members wanted the bill to be deferred, he had no problems.
The bill provides for establishment of educational tribunals for effective and expeditious adjudication of disputes involving teachers and other employees of higher educational institutions and other stakeholders (including students, universities, institutions and statutory regulatory authorities) and to adjudicate penalties for indulging in unfair practices in higher education.
