Bankruptcy bill in Lok Sabha, FM Jaitley says country can't wait for reforms

New Delhi: Lok Sabha on Tuesday took up the Bankruptcy Code bill amid demand by some parties for referring it to the Parliamentary Standing Committee, with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley asserting that economic legislation has to go on and the country cannot wait in the "critical" times.

The bill, which proposes to make it easier for insolvent companies to exit business, was taken up after resistance by some opposition parties like Trinamool Congress and BJD whose members argued that they had not got enough time to study the proposed legislation.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while moving the 'Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2015 Bill' for consideration and passage, said the country is going through a "critical" phase and "economic legislation has to go on".

Underlining that the bill was an important legislation, he said it should not "go from committee to committee" as the "country cannot wait" for reforms.

When leaders of Trinamool and BJD resisted, Jaitley said he was willing to refer it to a Joint Committee of Parliament if the opposition could come to any agreement on that but in the meanwhile it should be taken up for discussion.

"We can play these Parliamentary tactics but the world is not going to wait, this country is not going to wait, the economic legislation has to go on," Jaitley said.

"What is the quick way out by which we can consult everybody, have the wisdom of all the sections and then legislate. Or, is it only an obstacle race where there is one party which wants to create obstacles and my only job is to jump over those obstacles?

That is not how a legislation is framed in this country," he said.