New Delhi: The mysterious delay in listing the long-awaited real estate bill saw an exasperated parliamentary affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu lodging a strong protest with Rajya Sabha deputy chairman P J Kurien on Wednesday.
"Sir, what about the real estate bill? I have given notice after notice. I am of the understanding that the government business is decided by the parliamentary affairs ministry and I have been asking for the bill for days together. I don't know what is happening. I feel sorry for it. The public has been agitating," said Naidu in what marked an unusual protest by a parliamentary affairs minister.
Naidu, who is also the housing minister, has made five efforts to get the bill listed for "consideration and passing" over the past one month, beginning February 15. He also tried to get the bill included in the business last week, on March 4, with the ongoing week seeing Naidu make the same effort on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
"Sir, what about the real estate bill? I have given notice after notice. I am of the understanding that the government business is decided by the parliamentary affairs ministry and I have been asking for the bill for days together. I don't know what is happening. I feel sorry for it. The public has been agitating," said Naidu in what marked an unusual protest by a parliamentary affairs minister.
Naidu, who is also the housing minister, has made five efforts to get the bill listed for "consideration and passing" over the past one month, beginning February 15. He also tried to get the bill included in the business last week, on March 4, with the ongoing week seeing Naidu make the same effort on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Venkaiah emphasised that it was announced on March 4 that the bill would be taken up. His remarks came amid persistent speculation about continued resistance by the powerful builder lobby to the passage of the bill which seeks to set up a regulator for the real estate sector, both residential and commercial.
Naidu had tweeted on Tuesday evening that the bill, which seeks to lay down norms for timely completion of projects and protection of home buyers, was set to come up for consideration on Wednesday. According to sources, the minister also spoke with the representatives of almost all political parties to seek their support. However, he retracted the tweet later in the evening after discovering that contrary to an assurance from someone responsible, the bill was not on the agenda of the House for Wednesday.
Responding to Naidu's outburst, Kurien said the bill was not part of the agenda approved by the business advisory committee, whose sitting was also attended by minister of state for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. "Mr Naqvi will explain the position because now the Cabinet minister says, he wanted to take up this real estate bill. But no supplementary list is issued," said Kurien while announcing that the bill will be taken up for consideration on Thursday. Sources in the RS secretariat said that, at the instance of Naidu, the agenda was sought to be revised to include the real estate bill, but representatives of political parties did not agree and Naqvi went along with it.
The bill was conceived in 2013 in the backdrop of popular clamour for action against the failure of builders to complete projects on time, as also the alleged bias for developers in contract conditions. In its latest form, the bill incorporates all the recommendations of a select committee on which all parties were represented: something which signifies a consensus and should have ensured its smooth passage.
However, the bill has been stuck in the Rajya Sabha since it was listed in December.
