Rajya Sabha clears important bills on Monday

NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha on Monday transacted important legislative business, returning the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to abolish all retrospective tax imposed on indirect transfer of Indian assets, even as Opposition parties like Congress, Trinamool Congress and DMK staged a walkout objecting to the supplementary list of business – listing important bills -- being circulated as late as 2.15 pm.
The other key Bills that were passed by the House included the Tribunals Reforms Bill, providing for winding up of nine appellate tribunals, and the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to set up a Central university in the newly-created Union territory of Ladakh.
Replying to the debate on the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Bill sought to put “an end to this ghost (of retrospective taxation) which we have been carrying all this while”.
“I seek support of the House to make India look very clear, transparent and fair taxation land,” she stated. The minister also clarified that the bill provides for no payment of interest on refunds to be made to corporates who have already paid the retrospective tax dues and will provide for an undertaking from the benefiting parties that they would not pursue further appeals or litigation.
Sitharaman attacked the Congress for walking out ahead of discussion on the Bill, recalling how their own finance minister, though not naming P Chidambaram, had welcomed the passage of the Bill earlier in the Lok Sabha. She also recalled how Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor had in July 2014 expressed disappointment at the Budget not proposing to repeal retrospective tax and also referred to Trinamool MP’s Saugata Roy attacking the government for its “failure” to do so. Similar past statements by DMK in Parliament were also brought up.
Sitharaman hinted at fear in the Opposition camp that the credit would go to the Modi government for correcting a wrong law passed by the Congress government.
While the debate on the Tribunals Reforms Bill was held in din created by Opposition’s protests over issues like Pegasus snooping and farmers’ agitation, the voting was held with a division on the Opposition’s statutory motion seeking the Bill to be referred to a select committee. The motion was however negated with 79 noes against 44 ayes.
Replying to the debate on Tribunals Reforms Bill, when Congress members like Shakti Sinh Gohil had attacked the Bill for undermining independence of the judiciary, Sitharaman wondered how the Congress that had “completely curtailed the during Emergency” was now talking of the same.
“We fully respect independence of the judiciary but also remember powers of the law-making body,” she said, answering specific queries on how the Bill had retrained provisions to which the courts had objected.