Before FDI vote, govt faces FEMA rules roadbump

It is learnt that Congress interlocutors have been working overnight to explain to the SP that its vote here should be of no consequence because its state government has already chosen not to implement the policy. In which case, it should simply take a political decision on which side to support.

This somewhat complex argument is yet to deliver results, but the Congress remains optimistic. Thursday’s notice adds to the complication because it is not clear how the opposition would want take up these votes once the Left submits its resolution. CPM parliamentary party leader Sitaram Yechury has made it clear that he would move the resolution soon after the FEMA amendments are laid on the table of the House.

The amendments pertain to removing restrictions on trading in retail enshrined in the FEMA. A PIL in the Supreme Court had recently sought a stay on the FDI notification on the ground that the government would not be able to obtain parliamentary approval in the mandated 30 days after making the amendment.

While unwilling to interfere in policy matters, the Supreme Court had termed the petitioner’s fears as “premature”, and wondered why he thought the government would not be able to obtain Parliament’s approval. Relevant sections of the FEMA state that any amendment to the rules governing the Act must be tabled “as soon as possible”.

The convention, according to Yechury, is that “as soon as possible” means it is done before the 15th sitting of the session which

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