Key Bills from the past to pop up in House

NEW DELHI: The government has decided to re-introduce amendments to the Securities Contract (Regulation) Act and the Banking Regulation Act in Parliament. The Bills to modify these two laws were introduced in the Lok Sabha by the NDA regime, but lapsed as the House was dissolved for the conduct of early elections.
Additional changes would be incorporated in these two Bills to make them more effective, the finance ministry said on Thursday. The amendments to the Securities Contract (Regulation) Act are aimed at early demutualisation and corporatisation of stock exchanges, while the changes proposed in the Banking Regulation Act focus on stronger regulation of urban co-operative banks. After the stock market scam of ‘00, the NDA government had promised measures to tighten regulation and prevent such events that led to losses for small investors. Amendments to both the Acts were promised after the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on the stock market scam outlined the need for legislative changes.
The decision to amend the Acts was reiterated by the UPA government in the progress report placed in Parliament on Thursday to indicate implementation or remedial measures on the basis of the JPC’s recommendations.
The new government is also considering legal amendments through the proposed Companies Law (Amendment) Bill and the Government Securities Bill, a statement issued by the finance ministry said. Promising that effective action would be taken against the guilty, the statement issued by the ministry added that the government was committed to implementing the recommendations of the JPC.
While expressing deep anguish over the manner in which hard-earned savings of millions of people were wiped out in the stock scam, the statement said the second progress report confirmed the action taken on 36 recommendations. With this, the number of recommendations on which action remains to be taken is 90.
The JPC on the stock market scam and matters relating thereto, which had been set up to inquire into the causes of the scam, had submitted its report to Parliament in December ‘02. The report contained 276 observations/conclusions/recommendations. The JPC had recommended that the government should present its action taken report (ATR) to the Parliament within six months and file periodic progress reports every six months till action on all the recommendations were taken to the satisfaction of Parliament.
The government had submitted the ATR to Parliament in May ‘03. The first progress report was presented to the Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha in December ‘03. In the ATR presented to the Parliament during May ‘03, action on 111 recommendations was completed. In the progress report presented during December ‘03, action was taken on 39 additional recommendations, bringing down the number to 126.