The Hindu : 12 Bills passed in 75 minutes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 11, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

12 Bills passed in 75 minutes

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI May 10. Seven Bills were introduced and passed in the Assembly at its last sitting of the budget session today, even as the Opposition complained that it was not given enough time to read through the measures and make their observations.

Today's session, which lasted an hour and 15 minutes, witnessed the introduction and passage, without discussion, of the Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (fixation of ceiling on land) Amendment and Special Provisions Bill, 2003; the Tamil Nadu Fiscal Responsibility Bill, 2003; the Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Amendment Bill 2003; the Tamil Nadu Court-fees and Suits valuation (Amendment) Bill, 2003; the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2003; the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Societies (Second Amendment) Bill, 2003 and the Tamil Nadu Municipal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2003.

J.Hemachandran (CPI-M) said the copies of the Bills were made available to him only in the morning and hence, he had no time to study them. Members of the Congress, the CPI, the BJP and the PMK supported the contention that the copies were received only this morning.

The Finance Minister, C.Ponnaiyan, said that if the Opposition had any objection to policy, they could raise it now.

But Mr.Hemachandran said many of the Bills had financial implications, it was not just a matter of policy.

Besides, the Bills introduced yesterday — the Code of Criminal Procedure (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Bill, 2003; the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Bill, 2003; the Tamil Nadu Tax on Entry of Goods into Local Areas (Amendment) Bill, 2003; the Tamil Nadu Entertainments Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2003 and the Tamil Nadu Entertainments Tax (Third Amendment) Bill, 2003 — were taken up for consideration and passed.

After the passage of the Bills, the Speaker, K.Kalimuthu, quoted the time allotted to Opposition to speak, and rejected the claim that it was not given enough time to air its views. Reading out the time allotted to each party during the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor's address and the budget session, the Speaker said chances were given to the Opposition at the expense of the ruling party and that some AIADMK members were yet to even speak for the first time, since the 12th Assembly convened.

When these were the facts, the Opposition's charge that it was not allotted enough time was regrettable.

Mr.Kalimuthu said eight privilege issues were raised during the session, of these six were referred to the Privileges Committee. He said the Chief Minister had made 12 out of the of 15 suo motu statements under Rule 110.

The Assembly later adjourned sine die.

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12 Bills passed in 75 minutes