Government scrambles for control over House panel on finance

With three important Bills pertaining to crucial economic reforms stuck with the parliamentary standing committee on finance, the government is scrambling for control over it.

Since the term of the present committee ends on August 30, the government will have to reconstitute the panel, the process for which is currently on. Sources said at least three Opposition parties are aggrieved that they have not been offered seats on the new panel, which is one of the most powerful parliamentary committees.

In the present committee, headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party?s (BJP?s) Yashwant Sinha, the Opposition accounts for 13 out of the total 30 seats, with the Congress having 11 seats.

?A new standing committee on finance will come into being on September 1 and although the outgoing committee has members from the CPI, CPI(M) and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), this time round, they have not been accommodated,? said a senior MP.

In protest, the BJD has sent a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar. BJD said it has always been offered a seat on the committee and even the outgoing committee has a senior MP from the party, Bhratruhari Mahtab. The CPI?s Gurudas Dasgupta personally met Kumar to secure his seat. The CPI(M) may get one seat from the Rajya Sabha quota.

?According to norms, the Speaker has the last word on committees, but the government has a large role to play as well. Which is why the CPI(M)?s Basudeb Acharia was removed as chairman of the committee on railways after Mamata Banerjee became railway minister,? said an aggrieved MP.

?Important Bills like the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill, the Insurance Bill, the Banking Regulation Bill and the all-important Goods and Services Tax Bill are all before this committee,? said the MP. The Opposition has been rather strident in its opinion on these Bills, according to sources.

?Therefore, the constitution of this committee gains a lot of importance,? said the source. The government has been looking at big ticket reforms as a way to get out of the current policy drift, and it seems that control over the standing committee on finance is the first order of business.