Real Estate Bill to be taken up by Rajya Sabha today

A united Opposition on Wednesday forced government to send the controversial Real Estate Bill that seeks to regulate realty business, to a 21-member select committee of Rajya Sabha, which has been asked to submit its report by the first week of the Monsoon Session.

After trying twice in this session to take up the bill for consideration and passage in Rajya Sabha where it is not in a position to get it passed due to lack of numbers, the government on Wednesday brought a motion to refer the bill to Select Committee, chaired by BJP member Anil Madhav Dave.

The other members of the Select Committee include Mansukh L Mandaviya, Shamsher Singh Manhas (all BJP),Shantaram Naik, M V Rajeev Gowda, Kumari Selja (all Cong), Naresh Agrawal (SP), K C Tyagi (JD-U), Md Nadimul Haque (TMC), A W Rabi Bernard (AIADMK), Munquad Ali (BSP), Ritabrata Banerjee (CPI-M), A U Singh Deo (BJD), C M Ramesh (TDP), Majeed Memon (NCP), Dr K P Ramalingam (DMK), Anil Desai (Shiv Sena), Naresh Gujral (SAD), Nazir Ahmed Laway (PDP), D Kupendra Reddy (JD-S) and Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Nominated).

Moving the motion, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the government had brought the bill earlier in this session after taking the view of all stakeholders. However, amid lot of criticism the bill was delayed even after the recommendations of the Standing Committee.

Noting that a larger number of members in Upper House, wanted that the bill to be sent to Select Committee, Naidu said he has accepted the suggestions of his "honourable colleagues".

CPI-M had earlier proposed K N Balagopal's name for the Select Committee. However, as he did not want to become a member, he was replaced by Ritabrata Banerjee.

This prompted Deputy Chairman P J Kurien to remark: "I do not know why does he not want to be in the committee. Usually members want to be in Committee."

On Tuesday the bill was put off indefinitely after a united opposition in the Upper House insisted on sending it to a Select Committee.

Earlier on April 29 also, the government was forced to defer the bill after opposition insisted on sending it to a Select Committee for proper scrutiny.

Rahul Gandhi had raised the issue on Saturday after a meeting with flat owners and had dubbed the bill as "pro-builders", following which Congress further toughened its stand on the issue.

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