FRDI Bill shelved as House panel needs time for study

NEW DELHI: The controversial Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill, 2017, has now been put on hold, with the Chairman of the Select Committee, BJP MP Bhupendra Jadav, seeking more time from Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkiah Naidu to present the report . It is also not clear whether the Select Committee report will see the light of day in even the next Budget session as most members of the panel want to study the Bill in depth which will take time over the next few months.

Opposition MPs feel that the Bill has gone to cold storage as it created mass hysteria among bank customers. Many MPs from even the ruling BJP have opined to their party leadership that this type of legislation may create unnecessary fear among bank customers ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The FDRI Bill aims to set up a Resolution Corporation which will monitor financial companies, categorise them as per their risk profiles and step in to prevent them from going bankrupt by writing down their liabilities. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan informed the House that the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the FRDI Bill has been granted an extension "up to the last day of the Budget Session, 2018".

These developments come at a time when concerns have also been raised in several quarters about certain provisions of the Bill which was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August this year. The Joint Parliamentary Committee on the FRDI Bill, 2017, decided to seek an extension as its report would not be ready for presentation by December 15.

The joint panel's motion seeking an extension could not be moved on December 15 "as the House was adjourned after making obituary references. Hence, I have on behalf of the House granted extension of time," said Mahajan during Zero Hour.

Meanwhile, Goa Congress chief Shantaram Naik on Wednesday termed the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill, 2017, as a "virtual dacoity" on the bank accounts of the common man. "The BJP government is going to commit a virtual dacoity on the bank accounts of common people through a legislation called Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill (FRDI) Bill 2017," Naik said.

He was speaking to reporters at Panaji to register his protest against the bill. "If the bill becomes a law, the government can take a stand dishonouring your cheques even if you have funds in your account and deny you your right to withdraw money from your hard earned savings," explained Naik.