NEW DELHI: Even as social activist Anna Hazare, the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) and senior Supreme Court counsel Shanti Bhushan are expected to depose before the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Land Bill next week, members from the Opposition parties on Tuesday took strong exception to a private firm representative being allowed to make a submission before the Committee.
Maintaining that private individuals will have their own vested interests, the Opposition strongly objected to the Panel summoning private individuals to the meeting.
The Joint Committee on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015, headed by S S Ahluwalia summoned representatives from organisations like Foundation for Democratic Reforms, Bhoomi Adhikar Andolan, Sree Samayaa, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, PRS Legislative Research and an individual Dhanush Kumar. Members objected when the managing director of Sree Samayaa, a private limited company from Mumbai, began expressing his views in favour of the contentious Bill.
One of the members questioned why they should listen to the views of people with “vested interests”, saying that the particular company had interests in construction activities, the sources said.
The MD of Sree Samayaa had to cut short his presentation with the Opposition members belonging to the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the Left and the BJD opposing him.
The Opposition members also wanted the government to spell out its stand on the Land Bill issue since the matter has now been referred to a Parliamentary Panel.