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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, Jan 5: Anxious not to take any chances with a wayward Parliament, and desperate to find funds to balance its precariously placed budget, the Central government today decided to issue a clutch of ordinances including the Companies Amendment Ordinance and the Patents Amendment Bill.
With the Companies Amendment ordinance, companies will be, among other things, allowed to buyback their own shares – the Government is currently engaged in discussions with public sector units (PSUs) convincing them to buyback their own shares, to provide almost Rs 2,000 crore which will shore up the budget. Similarly, it is important to get the Patents Bill through before April 19, as part of its WTO obligations.
Both Bills were brought before Parliament in the last session but could not be passed. The Companies Bill was moved in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday but could not be passed due to lack of quorum, and on Wednesday, the House was adjourned sine die before it could be considered.
Similarly, the Patents Bill was cleared by the Rajya Sabha but could not come up in the Lok Sabha. It was then slotted to come up during the Budget session but the government obviously didn’t want to take a chance on getting it passed. Had the Bill not been passed during the Budget session, India’s trade partners would have been free to levy sanctions on it. The Bill envisages to provide exclusive marketing rights (EMRs) for five years to multinational agro-chemical and pharmaceutical firms. The Companies ordinance is to be re-promulgated, as the earlier one was to expire on January 10.
The Cabinet today also cleared proposals to re-promulgate ordinances for the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and the Prasar Bharati. The original CVC ordinance was promulgated on August 25 and was further amended on October 28 last year after amicus curiae
Anil Diwan pointed out some deficiencies in it and sought Supreme Court intervention. Under the Constitution, an ordinance expires six weeks after the commencement of the Parliament session if the House does not approve it.
On the Prasar Bharati front, the then information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj had succeeded in getting an ordinance promulgated on August 29 to restore the original Prasar Bharati Act of 1990 leading to the ouster of chief executive S S Gill. The ordinance fixed the age-limit of the CEO at 62 and provided for the establishment of a parliamentary committee to oversee functioning of the broadcasting corporation and a broadcasting council.
The Cabinet deferred finalisation of the Ninth Plan in order to discuss it in detail, an official spokesperson told reporters. Besides allowing buyback of 25 per cent of paid-up capital and free reserves, the Companies ordinance had given freedom to companies to issue sweat equity, make inter-corporate investments and give loans without government permission. The buyback ordinance will facilitate the Government to mop up revenue by helping the disinvestment process of PSUs.
The Cabinet deferred approval of the draft of the Ninth plan but is likely to approve the draft Ninth Five Year Plan at its next meeting scheduled for January 10, official sources said today. The Cabinet, which was to finalise the draft plan today, could not do so as the discussions remained inconclusive, the sources said. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has already cleared the draft, in the capacity of Chairman of the Planning Commission.
