Not fair to say Bills are passed without scrutiny: Naidu

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday rejected the contention of Trinamool Congress member Derek O'Brien that Bills were being passed without proper scrutiny and asked the parties to recommend the names of their members so that Parliamentary Standing Committees can be constituted at the earliest.

"It is not fair to say that the Bills are passed without scrutiny. Parliament scrutiny is there. You people are sitting till late in the night. Before passing it, you are going through each and every section of the Bill," Naidu said.

He said the Secretariat and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister have written letters to political parties asking them to give names for Standing Committees.

"I am sorry to say, in spite of reminders, some of the parties are yet to give their names. I do not want to name the parties... that is not my purpose. I appeal to all the political parties to please send your names as early as possible so that we can set up Standing Committees at the earliest," he said.

His remarks came after O'Brien raised the issue during Zero Hour and claimed Bills were being passed without proper scrutiny.

"Listening to the government's long list of proposed Business for the next one week, I want to mention that the Standing Committees have not been formed. Except the Motor Vehicles Bill, none of the Bills have been scrutinised," he said.

He said 11 Bills have already been passed without scrutiny and nine more have been listed for the next week.

"So, it means, 19 or 20 Bills being passed with no Parliamentary scrutiny and no Standing Committee! You need to help us on this point," he said.

The TMC leader had on Tuesday slammed the Narendra Modi-led NDA government for rushing their Bills through the Lok Sabha. He said that zero per cent Bills had been scrutinised by the Parliamentary Committees so far.

"In 14th Lok Sabha (2004-9) 60 per cent of the Bills were scrutinised and studied by the Parliament committees. In 15th Lok Sabha (2009-14) 71 per cent of the Bills were scrutinised. In 16th Lok Sabha (2014-19), the figure was only 26 per cent. Bad start to current 17th Lok Sabha: ZERO per cent of Bills have been scrutinised. As a constructive opposition we will save democracy," said the TMC Parliamentary party leader in Rajya Sabha.

( With inputs from ANI )