Narendra Modi government makes a point with ordinance for crucial legislation, say top lawyers

NEW DELHI: Top lawyers Harish Salve, Shanti Bhushan and KK Venugopal said there was no legal infirmity in the Narendra Modi government’s move to opt for the ordinance route to push through much-needed reforms in the insurance and coal sector. The opposition has said such a move means crucial reforms sidestepping Parliament.
Senior advocate Harish N Salve was unequivocal in support for government action.

“This is absolutely the right thing to do. These are not bills that have been rejected by the House. In that case, it would have been an abuse of the Constitution,” he said. Parliament could not clear it because of disturbances “unrelated to the Bill”, he said. “It is time we Indians raise our voices against the business of the House being held up.” “We pay, we elect Parliament members to pass laws necessary for the people,” he said.

Economic reforms can’t be held hostage by an opposition angry over some other issue, Salve argued. “This is a very good global signal. This is India’s moment. Other economies are slowing down, except the US. If you are going to stop reforms, you are going to lose an opportunity.” He shrugged off the possibility of the move being challenged in court. “It can’t be. International investors are not worried about how a government gets things done.”

Senior advocate KK Venugopal said that an ordinance could be promulgated by the president when the House was not in session and there was an urgent necessity to do so. This is a solution envisaged by the Constitution to enable the executive to deal with a situation in which there is a legislative hiatus. “In any case, it would have to be vetted by the House within six weeks of convening. The ordinance will lapse, unless approved,” Venugopal said. “Parliament in any event has the overseeing powers,” he said. Former law minister Shanti Bhushan echoed this.

“‘People’s will will come. The government has to replace it with a law (once House reconvenes) so there is no harm in issuing it.” Former secretary general of the Lok Sabha Subhas Kashyap also dismissed the criticism. “If the government had succeeded in pushing the laws in Parliament, there would be no need for this.”

Chairman of the Rajya Sabha select committee on insurance Chandan Mitra said the Modi government’s decision was “absolutely correct”. “The Opposition left the government with no other way,” he said. “They stalled the Rajya Sabha and were not even ready to discuss it.” He said the 15-member select committee headed by him had cleared the Bill with some changes by a majority of 11. The committee included the Congress. There were only four dissenting notes before the committee, he added.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley said it was just a matter of time before the BJP gets better numbers in Rajya Sabha where it faced opposition resistance. This will come about as the BJP improves its position in the states.

The two emergency laws will come up for approval in parliament during the budget session when the opposition could be even more belligerent. Until the government gets the requisite numbers in the upper house, it could even resort to a joint session. The government’s decision to issue an ordinance comes just a month before the US president Barack Obama arrives in India. The American financial services industry has been seeking a higher foreign investment limit for the sector for long.