GOVT. SHELVES PFRDA BILL - A VICTORY TO OUR MARCH TO PARLIAMENT

TIMES OF INDIA Govt shelves Pension, Companies bills

21 Dec 2011, 2004 hrs IST, AGENCIES

After being forced to keep on hold FDI in retail, Government faced fresh hurdles when two major legislations-- Pension Bill and the Companies Bill--had to be shelved in the face of dissent again from its ally Trinamool Congress (TMC) as well as from main opposition BJP. TMC on Wednesday (December 21) made it clear that it was not in a position to support some of the provisions of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill just days after it forced Government to suspend the decision to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail. Sources said the government has decided to shelve the PFRDA and the Companies Bills in the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament as it does not have the necessary numbers to get it passed in the Rajya Sabha with BJP and Left parties also opposing the legislations West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC Chief Mamata Banerjee is understood to have shot off a letter to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today, stating her party's position on the important pension legislation. As in the case of FDI in multi-brand retail, TMC's opposition to PFRDA is apparently due to political compulsions in West Bengal where her main political adversaries, the Left parties, have been campaigning for long opposing the measure. One of the major issues on which TMC has voiced its Opposition is the question of 'assured returns' on pension if a portion of it is invested in the stock market, sources said. The sources said the Congress did not want to face the embarrassment of its ally TMC opposing this Bill in the House. Mukherjee had earlier reached out to BJP to get its support for both the PFRDA and the Companies Bill. The government had agreed to the BJP demand to fix quantum of FDI for pension management in the PFRDA Bill itself and gave up its earlier proposal of bringing this through an executive decision. Another demand of the BJP was on the issue of assured returns to retired employees. Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, headed by BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, had also made this recommendation. In the Companies Bill, though the government had incorporated some of the changes suggested by BJP, the main opposition party was not satisfied. BJP had suggested that since the Bill is virtually new as it has undergone considerable alterations, it should be sent to the Standing Committee concerned once again. The party had conveyed this to Mukherjee on December 19 when he met its leaders L K Advani, Yashwant Sinha, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley. Government is understood to have conceded to BJP's demand for allowing Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) which would enable a group comprising only of professionals from one category, like Chartered Accountants or Company Secretaries, to form their own company. The Act would also protect the interest of the Indian companies. Corporate Affairs Minister M Veerappa Moily was to move the Companies Bill in the Lok Sabha on December 19 itself but since then, though it has been regularly listed in the agenda every day, the government has not moved it. The Bill was also listed in today's agenda for the Lok Sabha but was not moved. With BJP and Left parties not supporting the Companies Bill, the government apparently realised that it would not get passed in the Rajya Sabha where the ruling coalition is in a UPA minority. PFRDA Bill was supposed to have been moved for passage in Lok Sabha today according to the agreement reached earlier in the Business Advisory Committee. However, it did not find mention in today's list of business.