Congress objects to Aadhaar as money bill

NEW DELHI: The opposition Congress objected to the government’s introduction of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016, as a money bill in the Lok Sabha. Such legislation doesn’t need the approval of the Rajya Sabha. The legislation follows a budget announcement that Aadhaar would get legal backing to ensure that subsidies reach beneficiaries without leakage.

Later in the day, Congress members in the Rajya Sabha — Jairam Ramesh, Anand Sharma and Ghulam Nabi Azad — protested against its designation as a money bill as finance minister Arun Jaitley sought to withdraw the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010, in the Upper House.

“This House should not sit on appeal for Lok Sabha Speaker’s decision,” Jaitley said in the RS. He said it was the Lok Sabha speaker’s prerogative to categorise legislation as a money bill or not. With Jaitley not yielding, the opposition members scaled down their demand and sought an assurance from him that the legislation would be sent to the standing committee on finance for detailed scrutiny.

Earlier, Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge and Jyotiraditya Scindia and BJD’s B Mahtab had objected when Jaitley rose to introduce the bill in the Lok Sabha on Thursday morning.

“The bill was brought by the UPA and then it was referred to the standing committee.

Lots of recommendations were also made but I don’t know the status of the bill in the Rajya Sabha. There are many contentious issues related to Aadhaar number and so the matter was also referred to the SC,” Mahtab said, registering his objections.