With political parties busy campaigning for Assembly elections in five states, the winter session of parliament will likely commence on December 10. The winter session usually starts in the third week of November.
The forthcoming session, to last for three weeks, could be the last occasion for the government to get parliament’s nod for many pending Bills, including the one banning ponzi schemes, the code on wages and changes to the Companies Act.
The last parliament session of NDA government – Budget session in late January – would be more for getting parliament nod for the interim Budget, before code of conduct kicks in early March for likely general elections in April-May.
Though the monsoon session saw the government managing to get parliament approval for 20 Bills, including the one replacing an ordinance issued earlier to amend the insolvency law to recognise home-buyers as financial creditors and another to tighten the noose around absconding economic offenders, it could not push a number of important economic Bills. There are 67 bills pending before parliament.
To protect the savings of gullible investors, the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill proposes stringent provisions to clamp down on ponzi schemes, including imprisonment up to 10 years for wrongdoers and confiscation of assets of firms found to have accepted deposits without authorisation. According to a CBI estimate in 2016, Rs 68,000 crore was collected from more than six crore depositors by such illegal deposit taking entities using a large network of commission agents promising high returns.