Decision making may shift to executive actions in future: Jaitley

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New Delhi, Dec 17: India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has accused opposition Congress party of setting a wrong precedent for future opposition parties by continuously disrupting Parliament and said decision making in future will have to shift to executive actions and money bills.

Irked by Congress disrupting Rajya Sabha for the second session in a row to stall passage of the all-important Constitution Amendment Bill to bring Goods and Services Tax (GST), he said history would not be kind to the “outlaws of Parliamentary” system.

Addressing a gathering of industry leaders on GST, he said on Wednesday with government business being blocked in Rajya Sabha, future decision making “will have to take place through executive action and money bills.”

Money bills, which largely concern taxation, government spending or having financial implications, can be introduced only in Lok Sabha. Rajya Sabha cannot make amendments in a Money Bill passed by Lok Sabha and transmitted to it.

Mere approval of Lok Sabha, where the ruling BJP has an absolute majority, is enough to push through a legislation that has been certified as money bill by the lower house speaker.

“If by sheer noise and disturbance, session after session of the parliament is not allowed to function then this is a going to be a precedent for Parliament of the future and all opposition for state legislation,” Jaitley said.

He said the country is entering into a phase where “legislative activity is going to become increasingly more difficult.”

“Those who are responsible for setting this precedent have to realise their role in bringing this unfortunate turning point to Indian democracy will also find a place in history when we look back at the history of India’s parliamentary democracy,” he said.

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“If by these tactics you become outlaws as far as Parliamentary democracies are concerned, then you will make a decision making process particularly in relation to legislation extremely difficult and governments in the future will have to realise decisions making have to take place through executive action and through money bill,” he said.

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