Parliament Diary

In Lok Sabha, the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was taken up for consideration. The Bill merges the three municipal corporations of Delhi into a single corporation. Opening the debate, the Home Minister said that the functioning of the three corporations in the last 10 years (following the trifurcation) prompted the government to merge the three entities again. He added that a unified entity would address the issues of differences in their functioning in terms of service conditions of employees, incomes and liabilities etc.

Questions on Parliament's legislative competence to pass such a Bill were raised again during the debate. One Member stated that although a proviso in Article 239AA allowed Parliament to legislate on matters related to Delhi, such a provision should only be used to address emergency situations if they emerge from an act of Delhi Assembly. Another Member welcomed the move stating that the 2011 Amendment had left two out of the three municipalities without viable sources to generate their own funds, while a Member questioned the rationale for proposing reduced number of councillors in the Bill, saying that it was contrary to the increase in population.

Earlier in the day, the Finance Minister responded to the discussion on the Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2021. The Bill was then passed. Addressing concerns of some Members that the Bill would interfere with the autonomy of the Institutes, the Minister assured the House that their independent functioning will not get affected.

In Rajya Sabha, the Constitution (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2022 (in relation to Jharkhand) was passed. The Bill adds certain communities in the ST list in Jharkhand and also moves the Bhogta community from the SC list to the ST list for the state. The House then took up discussion on the working of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Proceedings in both Houses were ongoing at the time of updating this post.