With 120 votes in favour and 58 against, the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 was introduced in the Lok Sabha.

Today, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will move the The Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

Additionally, Arjun Ram Meghwal and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will present the 32nd Report of the Business Advisory Committee.

Here are the latest updates:

3-40 p.m.

TMC’s Prof. Sougata Roy speaks on the CA Bill

Mr. Roy says that the Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee, of which he is a member.

The TMC MP talks about the recommendations of the committee that the government has not considered in the present version of the bill. Mr. Roy says that the Committee had said the autonomy of the ICAI, and the institutes for company secretaries and cost and works accounts should not be hampered.

Regulation is necessary, he says, but the bureaucrats in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs have increased their “stranglehold” on these three independent professions through this Bill.

“The Bill aims at bringing discipline to these professions but the disciplinary authority will be headed by a non-Chartered Accountant and it would have more non-CA members than CA members,” he said.

“This is what this government is doing generally, earlier there was an elected Medical Council of India, they dismissed that, now they have got National Medical Commission made up of all appointed people. They (govt) want to take away the power of all professional bodies and professionals.”

3-15 p.m.

A. Raja accuses the government of having ‘hidden agenda’ in CA Amendment Bill

“I am having my accusation against this Bill, that govt is having a hidden agenda in their mind,” said DMK MP from Tamil Nadu, A. Raja, referent to the Charterd Accountants (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

Listing “apprehensions” to the Bill, Mr. Raja says, “What is surprising and shocking is, earlier the chairman of the ICAI disciplinary committee was supposed to be a chartered accounted, but now the chairman will be a non-chartered accountant.” He added the person deciding on disciplinary matters should have domain knowledge and be a CA, in this case. He gave the example of how a person who knows and can interpret the law is made a judge.

“Therefore, my accusation is that you are having hidden political agenda to kill some companies, otherwise, such an attempt should not have been made.”

He called for referring the Bill to a select committee so that members, cutting across party lines can give their ideas and the bill can then be piloted before the House.

2-51 p.m.

Congress MP flags government interference in ICAI

M.K. Vishnu Prasad, Congress MP from Tamil Nadu says the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is a statutory and autonomous body, but it is still controlled by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, also adding that the Ministry does not provide funding to the institute.

He flagged that 10 years ago there was no government interference in the functioning of ICAI, then the law was amended to have two government nominees In the ICAI disciplinary committee which handles complaints and has three ICAI council members who are chartered accountants. Now, he says, the new amendment wants to add another government nominee to the committee.

“The government keeps talking about the independence (of ICAI), where is the independence?” Mr. Prasad remarks. “The number of ICAI council members should exceed the number of government nominees so that a balance is met.”

2-45 p.m.

Finance Ministry moves the amendments in The Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2021 for consideration. MPs commence discussion on the Bill.

2-30 p.m.

34 people from outside bought properties in J&K after 370 scrapping

Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in a written reply that as many as 34 people from outside Jammu and Kashmir have bought properties in the Union Territory after the abrogation of its apecial status in August 2019.

Under the scrapped Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, people from outside were barred from acquiring properties in the erstwhile state, which was bifurcated into two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Rai said the properties bought, are located in Jammu, Reasi, Udhampur and Ganderbal districts.- PTi

2-10 p.m.

FCRA renewal of 466 NGOs declined since 2020

 Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply that the Ministry has declined to renew the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act or FCRA licence of 466 NGOs since 2020.

Rai said the denial of applications was due to not fulfilling the eligibility criteria in accordance with the provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) 2010 and the rules made thereunder.

In 2020, a total of 100 applications from NGOs were refused; In 2021, 341 applications were refused; and till March 21 this year, 25 applications were refused.  – PTI

2-05 p.m.

House proceedings resume after lunch; YSRCP’s Midhun Reddy in the Chair

Members are now raising issues under rule 377 of the Lok Sabha . Under this, matters which are not points of order or which cannot be raised under the rules relating to Questions, such as Short Notice Questions, Calling Attention, Motions etc. can be raised.

1-00 p.m.

House adjourned till 2 P.M.

12-15 p.m.

Hyderabad MP Asaddudin Owaisi speaks about Cofset syrup

He informed the house that the syrup laden with the chemical Diethylene Gylcol (DEG) and manufactured with “digital vision” had failed to qualify quality standards as revealed by public data.

He said the Govt Central Drug Regulators balk at the prosecuting manufacturers of sub-standard drugs. He informed the house about the Drugs Consideration Committee’s statement that prosecuting every case of substandard drugs would lead to harassment of manufacturers. Mr. Owaisi asked the statement be immediately withdrawn and strict implementation of good practices under the Drugs & Cosmetics Act should be implemented.

“Many children are consuming this cough syrup and dying, and there is no control by the Govt on sale of such sub-standard drugs,” he said.

12-10 p.m.

Govt of West Bengal trying to thwart the labour’s movement: Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

The Bahrampur MP stated that while the ruling Trinamool Congress spoke about labour’s interest in the national parliaments but back home, it is trying to thwart the labour movement.

Earlier, TMC too expressed their concerns on the issue in the house.

12-10 p.m.

Opposition MPs demand discussion on ‘Bharat Bandh’

“Barring Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, all trade unions in unison have called for a strike across the nation in order to stop the plundering of the nation by this Govt,” Leader of opposition Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said in the house.

He stated the unions highlighted certain issues for consideration including scrapping of proposed changes in labour laws, privatisation of any form and national monetisation pipeline, increased allocation of wages under MNREGA and regularisation of contract workers.

12-05 p.m.

2.14 crore people have benefitted in separate ways from the ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat’ Action Plan: Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai

He added that 8,000 volunteers have been recruited under the program which has seen active participation from 42 lakh youth.

12-05 p.m.

Prime Minister Modi asks BJP MPs to highlight welfare measures in fortnight dedicated to ‘social justice’ – PTI

11-50 a.m.

MP Gaurav Gogoi asks Ministry of Rural Development on the technological innovations it would adopt to achieve carbon emission targets announced in the Glasgow Summit

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi asked the Ministry of Rural Development to clarify, considering they construct about 50,000 kms of road annually under PMGSY, which leads to severe usage of fuel and in turn, carbon emissions. He asked the Ministry if it is contemplating adopting of a new technology to progress on the same.

In response, Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan informed the house that the Ministry is trying to bring appropriate technology to prevent any kind of environmental pollution er the Pradham Mantri Sadak Yojna.

11-00 a.m.

Proceedings commence in the Lower House.

10.30 a.m.

List of Business

1. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to move the The Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

2. Arjun Ram Meghwal and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury to present the Thirty-second Report of the Business Advisory Committee.

3. Papers and Reports to be laid on the Table

4. Question Hour

10.00 a.m.

Day 10 recap

On the tenth day of the second part of the Budget session, the government moved to introduce the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022. The division vote saw 120 members voting in favour, while 58 members voting against the introduction.

The House also held a discussion on the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2022.