A view of the Rajya Sabha during the ongoing monsoon session of the Parliament. (Source: PTI Photo/TV Grab/File)
The government on Friday relented to the Opposition demand of sending the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill to a joint select committee of the Rajya Sabha, after a number of parties expressed reservations over key clauses and got support from Congress and Trinamool Congress. B K Hariprasad, Pramod Tiwari and possibly Pradeep Bhattacharya will represent the Congress in the committee, sources said. TMC has chosen Manish Gupta. Other parties were also in the process of nominating their members to the committee, which will assess contentious parts of the Bill.
For the past 10 days, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and ministry officials have been trying to allay objections and get the Opposition on board to pass the Bill in the Rajya Sabha. The Congress and TMC had demanded this move before House Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien, who was mediating in the matter.
On Friday, after another all-party meeting, the government agreed to the demand. The select committee of MPs will present its report on the Bill in the winter session. “It was felt at the meeting that there were some reservations, so the Bill should go to the Select Committee,” Gadkari told the media after the meeting.
