With 120 votes in favour and 58 against, the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 was introduced in the Lok Sabha.
Today, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will move the The Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
Additionally, Arjun Ram Meghwal and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will present the 32nd Report of the Business Advisory Committee.
Here are the latest updates:
Six persons arrested in ‘Sulli Deals’ and ‘Bulli Bai’ cases: Centre
MoS for Home Affairs, Ajay Kumar Mishra told the Lok Sabha in a written reply that police have registered FIRs in Delhi and Mumbai and arrested six persons in connection with the cases against ‘Sulli Deals’ and ‘Bulli Bai’ apps.
A charge sheet has been filed in court on March 4, 2022 in the Sulli Deals case, he added
The two apps had targeted Muslim women and posted their pictures without consent, for an online auction, triggering public outrage and prompting authorities to ban them.
Replying to a query on the issue, Mr. Mishra said the Delhi Police and Mumbai Police have registered FIRs in the matter of ‘Sulli Deals’ and ‘Bulli Bai’ apps cases under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Information Technology Act, 2000.
After an investigation into the case, the Delhi Police has arrested the accused, Aumkareshwar Thakur, in the ‘Sulli Deals’ case, he said.
In the ‘Bulli Bai’ incident, the minister said, the Delhi Police have arrested the main accused, Niraj Bishnoi. In addition to this, four other accused were also arrested by the Mumbai Police from Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Odisha. There is no report about obscenity in respect of minor girls and currently, all the accused arrested are in judicial custody in Delhi and Mumbai, he said.
Mishra said the government is not aware of any formal statement from any of the UN officials slamming the Indian government for the alleged harassment of Muslim women in the country.- PTI
Government in process of MSP panel: Centre
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said in the Lok Sabha in a written reply, the government is in the process of setting up a panel on Minimum Support Price (MSP).
While announcing the repeal of three farm laws in November last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the government would set up a committee to make the MSP system more effective and transparent as well as suggest ways to promote zero budgeting based-agriculture.
“As per the changing requirements of the country to change the cropping pattern, to make MSP more effective and transparent, and to encourage natural farming method of agriculture, setting up a committee is under process,” Mr. Tomar said/
The committee will have representatives of the central government, state governments, farmers, agricultural scientists, and agricultural economists
On February 4, Mr. Tomar had said in the Rajya Sabha that the matter of forming the committee on MSP is under consideration of the ministry and will be formed after the assembly elections in five states namely Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Punjab.- PTI
House adjourned till 11 am on Wednesday, March 30
Government is trying to ‘governmentalise’ autonomous bodies, BSP’s Danish Ali
“Something shocks me, on one side, this government is involved in the privatisation of PSUs and on the other hand, it is trying to do governmentalisation of autonomous professional bodies,” remarked BSP MP from Uttar Pradesh, Danish Ali, referring to the CA Amendments Bill.
BJP MP Anurag Sharma defends CA Amendment Bill
Expressing his support for the Bill, BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh, Anurag Sharma, says the new Bill, unlike Opposition MPs, have argued, will not take away the autonomy of CAs or the Insititues like ICAI, but discipinary body is bring made.
He mentioned the record of the ICAI in taking action in disciplinary matters had been poor- the Prime Minister had stated earlier that the ICAI had only prosecuted 25 errant auditors in the last 11 years, and 1,400 cases remain pending.
“Today, India has the highest number of CAs (3.5 lakh) in the world after America, but unfortunately, none of our best practices are recognised internationally because of lack of a disciplinary committee or work in the disiplinary committee,” said Mr. Sharma.
“Today, our people from the software industry lead the world, but even when we have so many CAs, why are our audited statements not accepted in NASDAQ or Worldwide?” he remarked. “It is because certain best practices have not been followed.”
“In this regard, I am happy to note that today, global best practices adopted in the US, UK, Australia, Canada and South Africa have been studied by the Ministry, they have brought in some of these changes.”
“Today, even in the UK, lay-members, who are not CAs, head the disciplinary panels and there are multiple bodies imparting education and regulating the accountancy profession; unlike India, where ICAI enjoys the status of a statutory body,” the BJP MP said.
“There is no way the goverment is impinging on the autonomy of these (institutes), the only thing is the disciplnary action.”
About 3,400 communal riots cases in 2016-20, Centre
Union MoS for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, said in the Lok Sabha that nearly 3,400 communal riot cases were registered in the country between 2016 and 2020.
The minister also said that 2.76 lakh rioting cases were registered in the country during the said period.
Quoting the reports of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Mr. Rai said 857 communal or religious riot cases were registered in 2020, 438 in 2019, 512 in 2018, 723 in 2017 and 869 in 2016. - PTI
Multiple MPs criticised the new Bill for taking away autonomy of accounting institutes like ICAI
Opposition MPs such as Congress’ M.K Vishnu Prasad, TMC’s Sougata Roy, DMK’s A. Raja, and NCP’s Supriya Sule questioned said the government was attempting to take away the autonomy of professional and autonomous professional bodies such as Institutes of Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries and Cost Accountants.
RSP MP from Kerala, N.K. Premachandran echoed their concerns, rising to oppose the new Bill.
“This (bill) is another typical example by which the Government of India is encroaching upon the autonomous character of all these three organisations,” said Mr. Premachandran. He pointed out that institutes such as the ICAI don’t take any budgetary grants or funding from the government but their autonomy is under attack, “just like in the case of the National Medical Commission Bill”.
Talking about a new provision added to the Bill, about the formation of a Coordination Committee for the three institutes, the RSP MP said, “the Coordination Committee’s constitution is the president, vice president and the secretaries of all the three organisations- ICAI, Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) and Institute of Cost Accountants of India; but who is chairing the Coordination Committee? the Secretary of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.”
He contintued: “This is shameful. How is this independent or autonomous?”
Why is Corporate Affairs ministry interfering in autonomous insitutes? Supriya Sule
The Nationalist Congress Party MP from Maharashtra, Supriya Sule, says the government, through this Bill, is bringing all three autonomous institutes of Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries and Cost Accountants under one umbrella, while saying at the same time, that the Bill brings autonomy to the councils of these institutes. “How does this bring more autonomy?” she asked.
On IBC haircuts: Ms. Sule said the current government blames the Non Performing Assets in the country on the UPA regime, but she asked why the government was letting lenders like Public and private sector banks, non-banking financial institutions, take huge haircuts or losses when it comes to the Insolvency and Bancrupcy Code.
The IBC is supposed to bring a framework for a speedy resolution of the debt of insolvent or bankrupt companies. Under this code, lenders can take insolvent companies to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for resolution.
In the same context, Ms. Sule cited an example of a company called Coastal Project, which was initially taken to NCLT at the price of Rs. 8,000 crores, the NCLT ruled that the company would be sold for Rs. 1,500 crores; but at the next stage, which is liquidation, the company was actually sold at just Rs. 400 core.
“Who lost Rs. 900 crores in this exchange? the government and the common man of India?” said the NCP MP. “So, NPA is a bad thing, but haircut is a good thing, what is this logic?”
TMC’s Prof. Sougata Roy speaks on the CA Bill
Mr. Roy says that the Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee, of which he is a member.
The TMC MP talks about the recommendations of the committee that the government has not considered in the present version of the bill. Mr. Roy says that the Committee had said the autonomy of the ICAI, and the institutes for company secretaries and cost and works accounts should not be hampered.
Regulation is necessary, he says, but the bureaucrats in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs have increased their “stranglehold” on these three independent professions through this Bill.
“The Bill aims at bringing discipline to these professions but the disciplinary authority will be headed by a non-Chartered Accountant and it would have more non-CA members than CA members,” he said.
“This is what this government is doing generally, earlier there was an elected Medical Council of India, they dismissed that, now they have got National Medical Commission made up of all appointed people. They (govt) want to take away the power of all professional bodies and professionals.”
He admitted that the profession of Chartered Accounting is not perfect, citing the auditing irregularities in the companies Satyam Computers and IL&FS, but, he said, that discipline has to be assured in the profession but it cannot be done by giving more power to the Corporate Affairs Ministry.
A. Raja accuses the government of having ‘hidden agenda’ in CA Amendment Bill
“I am having my accusation against this Bill, that govt is having a hidden agenda in their mind,” said DMK MP from Tamil Nadu, A. Raja, referent to the Charterd Accountants (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
Listing “apprehensions” to the Bill, Mr. Raja says, “What is surprising and shocking is, earlier the chairman of the ICAI disciplinary committee was supposed to be a chartered accounted, but now the chairman will be a non-chartered accountant.” He added the person deciding on disciplinary matters should have domain knowledge and be a CA, in this case. He gave the example of how a person who knows and can interpret the law is made a judge.
“Therefore, my accusation is that you are having hidden political agenda to kill some companies, otherwise, such an attempt should not have been made.”
He called for referring the Bill to a select committee so that members, cutting across party lines can give their ideas and the bill can then be piloted before the House.
Congress MP flags government interference in ICAI
M.K. Vishnu Prasad, Congress MP from Tamil Nadu says the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is a statutory and autonomous body, but it is still controlled by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, also adding that the Ministry does not provide funding to the institute.
He flagged that 10 years ago there was no government interference in the functioning of ICAI, then the law was amended to have two government nominees In the ICAI disciplinary committee which handles complaints and has three ICAI council members who are chartered accountants. Now, he says, the new amendment wants to add another government nominee to the committee.
“The government keeps talking about the independence (of ICAI), where is the independence?” Mr. Prasad remarks. “The number of ICAI council members should exceed the number of government nominees so that a balance is met.”
Rao Inderjit Sing, MoS Corporate Affairs, moves the amendments in The Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2021 for consideration. MPs commence discussion on the Bill.
34 people from outside bought properties in J&K after 370 scrapping
Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in a written reply that as many as 34 people from outside Jammu and Kashmir have bought properties in the Union Territory after the abrogation of its apecial status in August 2019.
Under the scrapped Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, people from outside were barred from acquiring properties in the erstwhile state, which was bifurcated into two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Rai said the properties bought, are located in Jammu, Reasi, Udhampur and Ganderbal districts.- PTi
FCRA renewal of 466 NGOs declined since 2020
Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply that the Ministry has declined to renew the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act or FCRA licence of 466 NGOs since 2020.
Rai said the denial of applications was due to not fulfilling the eligibility criteria in accordance with the provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) 2010 and the rules made thereunder.
In 2020, a total of 100 applications from NGOs were refused; In 2021, 341 applications were refused; and till March 21 this year, 25 applications were refused. - PTI
House proceedings resume after lunch; YSRCP’s Midhun Reddy in the Chair
Members are now raising issues under rule 377 of the Lok Sabha . Under this, matters which are not points of order or which cannot be raised under the rules relating to Questions, such as Short Notice Questions, Calling Attention, Motions etc. can be raised.
House adjourned till 2 P.M.
Hyderabad MP Asaddudin Owaisi speaks about Cofset syrup
He informed the house that the syrup laden with the chemical Diethylene Gylcol (DEG) and manufactured with “digital vision” had failed to qualify quality standards as revealed by public data.
He said the Govt Central Drug Regulators balk at the prosecuting manufacturers of sub-standard drugs. He informed the house about the Drugs Consideration Committee’s statement that prosecuting every case of substandard drugs would lead to harassment of manufacturers. Mr. Owaisi asked the statement be immediately withdrawn and strict implementation of good practices under the Drugs & Cosmetics Act should be implemented.
“Many children are consuming this cough syrup and dying, and there is no control by the Govt on sale of such sub-standard drugs,” he said.
Govt of West Bengal trying to thwart the labour’s movement: Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury
The Bahrampur MP stated that while the ruling Trinamool Congress spoke about labour’s interest in the national parliaments but back home, it is trying to thwart the labour movement.
Earlier, TMC too expressed their concerns on the issue in the house.
Opposition MPs demand discussion on ‘Bharat Bandh’
“Barring Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, all trade unions in unison have called for a strike across the nation in order to stop the plundering of the nation by this Govt,” Leader of opposition Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said in the house.
He stated the unions highlighted certain issues for consideration including scrapping of proposed changes in labour laws, privatisation of any form and national monetisation pipeline, increased allocation of wages under MNREGA and regularisation of contract workers.
2.14 crore people have benefitted in separate ways from the ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat’ Action Plan: Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai
He added that 8,000 volunteers have been recruited under the program which has seen active participation from 42 lakh youth.
Prime Minister Modi asks BJP MPs to highlight welfare measures in fortnight dedicated to ‘social justice’ - PTI
MP Gaurav Gogoi asks Ministry of Rural Development on the technological innovations it would adopt to achieve carbon emission targets announced in the Glasgow Summit
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi asked the Ministry of Rural Development to clarify, considering they construct about 50,000 kms of road annually under PMGSY, which leads to severe usage of fuel and in turn, carbon emissions. He asked the Ministry if it is contemplating adopting of a new technology to progress on the same.
In response, Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan informed the house that the Ministry is trying to bring appropriate technology to prevent any kind of environmental pollution er the Pradham Mantri Sadak Yojna.
Proceedings commence in the Lower House.
List of Business
1. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to move the The Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
2. Arjun Ram Meghwal and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury to present the Thirty-second Report of the Business Advisory Committee.
3. Papers and Reports to be laid on the Table
4. Question Hour
Day 10 recap
On the tenth day of the second part of the Budget session, the government moved to introduce the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022. The division vote saw 120 members voting in favour, while 58 members voting against the introduction.
The House also held a discussion on the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
