Derek O'Brien asks 'Are we delivering pizzas or passing legislation?', on quick passage of bills in budget session

"Are we delivering pizzas or passing legislation", TMC MP Derek O'Brien wondered on Wednesday, continuing his attack on the government over the speed with which bills have been passed this Parliament session.

On Tuesday, the Trinamool Congress MP had said the way the bills were being passed amounted to a "mockery of Parliament" and was the government's way of "smothering" the Opposition. 

"Parliament is supposed to scrutinize Bills. This chart explains the bulldozing this Session. Are we delivering pizzas or passing legislation?" he tweeted on Wednesday. 

O'Brien also attached a chart purportedly showing the contrast in numbers -- during 2004-2009, 60 percent of the total bills by Parliament were scrutinised, during 2009-2014, this went up to 71 percent, from 2014-2019 the number came down to 26 percent. In the present Lok Sabha, of the 18 bills passed, only one underwent scrutiny, bringing the number down to 5 percent, he claimed. 

17 Opposition MPs Write To VP Naidu On 'concern Over Quick Passage' Of Bills By Govt Without Committee Scrutiny

Earlier on Friday, 17 Opposition MPs wrote to the Rajya Sabha Chairman, M Venkaiah Naidu raising concerns over the manner in which the Government is hurriedly passing legislation without any scrutiny by Parliamentary Standing or Select Committees.

Parliament productivity at 20-year high

The current Budget Session of the 17th Lok Sabha(LS) has been working overtime hitting a 20-year high of 129% while the Rajya Sabha (RS) too has a productivity of 96% as of Wednesday, according to think tank PRS Legislative Research.

With such high productivity, the Central government is mulling to extend the ongoing Parliament session till August 6, according to PTI. The current budget session which began on June 17 was originally set to conclude on July 26.

Lok Sabha Productivity Touches 20-year High With 130%, Here's How The Lawmakers Achieved This

What makes this Budget Session so productive?

According to PRS, 34 new bills have been introduced in the Parliament - 30 in the Lok Sabha, 4 in Rajya Sabha. Out of 34 bills introduced, 14 have already been passed in both parliamentary houses as of July 31, while 20 have been passed in Lok Sabha only and 4 in Rajya Sabha.

(With PTI Inputs)