Parliament roundup: The Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022 passed and more

India

oi-Prakash KL

New Delhi, Aug 05: Protests by opposition parties including Congress on issues like price rise and action of investigative agencies forced adjournment of both the houses of parliament on Friday.

After the Rajya Sabha met for the day, opposition leaders began protesting an adjournment till 11.30 am. However, when the house met again similar scenes were repeated and the Rajya Sabha was adjourned till 2:30 pm.

Similar scenes were witnessed in the Lok Sabha where Congress leaders led by Sonia Gandhi had dressed in black as a mark of protest. The Lok Sabha was also adjourned again following an uproar.

The Family Courts (Amendment) Bill gets parliament nod

Here are the highlights of day 14 of the Monsoon Session:

Rahul, Priyanka among several leaders detained
Wearing black clothes, Congress leaders hit the streets on Friday to protest against price rise and unemployment with a host of them, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, being detained by police amid dramatic standoffs outside Parliament and the AICC headquarters. Congress MPs, including former party chief Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest in the Parliament House complex and then proceeded to take out a march towards the Rashtrapati Bhawan as part of the party’s nationwide stir against price rise, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) hike on essential items and unemployment.

The protesting MPs of the opposition party raised slogans against the government demanding that the GST hike on essential items be withdrawn, with party chief Sonia Gandhi standing with the women MPs holding a banner outside gate number 1 of Parliament. The protesters were, however, stopped by the Delhi Police and not allowed to proceed towards the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Sonia Gandhi did not take part in the march. The other MPs were detained by police at Vijay Chowk. Rahul Gandhi, senior Congress leaders K C Venugopal, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Gaurav Gogoi were among the 64 MPs detained and taken away from Vijay Chowk in a police bus.

The Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022
The Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was introduced in Lok Sabha amid protests from the Opposition over various issues including price rise.

The Bill seeks structural changes in the governing structure of the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Rao Inderjit Singh introduced the Bill seeking substantive provisions to allow the CCI to address the needs of new-age markets.

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The CCI has in recent times ordered probes as well as passed various orders with respect to alleged unfair business practices in the growing digital market.

New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Amendment) Bill, 2022 introduced in LS
The New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Amendment) Bill was also introduced in the Lower House of Parliament.

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju tabled the Bill.

MPs cannot avoid summons of law enforcement agencies: RS Chairperson
Vice President of India and Rajya Sabha Chairperson, M Venkaiah Naidu, on Friday, said that Members of the Parliament (MPs) cannot avoid summons of law enforcement agencies in criminal cases when the session is on or otherwise. This statement by Vice-President comes as Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi; Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and former West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee are under the radar of the Enforcement Directorate in money-laundering cases.

“MPs cannot avoid summons of law enforcement agencies in criminal cases when the session is on or otherwise. As law-abiding citizens, it’s our duty to respect the law and legal procedure,” said M Venkaiah Naidu in Rajya Sabha today during the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Parliament.