The Lok Sabha today took up the Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2014 for discussion. As per the new provisions, CBI director will be selected by a panel which will comprise of Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha or the leader of the single largest party in the House and Chief Justice of India or any Supreme Court Judge.

Earlier, there was no provision of the leader of the single largest party in the panel. The Bill also makes a provision that no appointment will be invalid merely because of vacancy or absence of a member of the panel. The Congress which is single largest party in the Lok Sabha could not get the post of leader of opposition due to lack of requisite numbers.

Initiating the discussion, Arjun Ram Meghwal of BJP said that amendment is in the interest of the country. Raising objections to the manner in which the Bill was taken up for discussion, Congress member Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that the government is acting in a hurry.

He said Congress is not begging for the post of Leader of the Opposition but pursuing the democratic values. Opposition members from Congress, TMC, RJD, and Samajwadi Party staged walk out in the Lok Sabha alleging government of passing the Bill in a hurry. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said that government is not in hurry and interested to discuss the Bill in threadbare.
Later, the Minister of State for Personnel Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the discussion should be discontinued today as the opposition is not present in the House. He said, the bill will be taken for further discussion tomorrow.

Now the Lok Sabha is discussing the Indian Institutes of Information Technology Bill,2014. The Bill envisages granting the status of national importance to the four Institutes based at Allahabad, Jabalpur, Gwalior and Kanchipuram.

Indroducing the Bill, Human Resource Development Minister, Smriti Irani said that it is a step towards achieving the goal of digital India as conceived by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and generating human resources in the field of IT sector.

Initiating the debate, Jagdambika Pal of BJP said, it will help India generate quality IT professionals which will be able to compete globally. Later, Mrs Irani told the House that the discussion should be discontinued today as the opposition is not present in the House. She said, the bill will be taken up for further discussion tomorrow.