President signs ordinances on coal, insurance

President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday re-promulgated the coal ordinance and promulgated the insurance ordinance.

The Cabinet approved the promulgation of the ordinances after the Rajya Sabha did not pass the Bills in the Winter Session that ended on December 23.

Meanwhile, the Centre is said to be considering calling a joint session of Parliament to get these Bills passed if it fails to get these passed in the Budget session, to be held in February. A joint session refers to a combined sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The Government has a majority in the Lok Sabha, but not in the Rajya Sabha.

Minor changes The Coal Mines (Special Provisions), Ordinance 2014 has been re-promulgated in its original form with minor changes in the list of Schedule III blocks. A total of 27 more blocks were added to the Schedule III list, taking the number to 59. In the ordinance, Schedule I refers to the complete list of 204 blocks cancelled by the Supreme Court on September 24, Schedule II contains 42 of the producing blocks from complete list and Schedule III contains the 59 ready to produce mines.

Legal validity  The ordinance is required for the whole e-auction process to go on smoothly. “Even considering the worst case situation that the ordinance lapses after the Budget session, the auction and allocations will remain valid as any action taken while the Ordinance is in force will have legal validity,” a senior Government official said.

The insurance ordinance intends to hike foreign direct investment to 49 per cent in the sector, besides other things. A higher limit could bring up to $8 billion for the fund-starved insurance industry, which needs ₹60,000 crore in the next five years.

An ordinance has the same power as an Act. Based on the urgency, it can be promulgated in between two sessions of Parliament. However, the Government needs to get it converted into Act in the immediate next session of Parliament, failing which it lapses.

Meanwhile, Opposition parties like the Congress, Trinamool and the Left have criticised the Government’s move to take the ordinance route.