New Delhi:
The Joint Parliamentary Committee, examining the controversial land acquisition bill, today sought one-week extension to submit its report to Parliament amid a 'no show' by senior government officials.
Opposition members in the 30-member strong committee view this as a delaying tactic to avoid pushing through the controversial bill before the Bihar elections that are scheduled to be held in end September or early October.
Congress-led Opposition has already termed the bill as anti-farmer and passing the bill in Parliament may create a problem of perception for the government.
Sources told NDTV that the committee was to hear the "views of senior government officials" on land acquisition for dedicated industrial corridors.
But the concerned secretary - Mr Amitabh Kant of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) - sent a regret stating that he had to be Edinburgh for an official assignment.
Two other senior officials, Union power secretary and the secretary in charge of national highways, skipped the meeting citing other engagements.
The joint committee was supposed to submit the report by July 27 but now the members have sought time until August 3 to submit its report.
Even though the committee didn't have much official work, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, one of the senior most member in the committee, objected to the Prime Minister convening a meeting of the Niti Ayog to "discuss the land acquisition bill".
Other members including parties friendly to the BJP like Biju Janata Dal also supported Pawar.
Trinamool Congress' Derek O'Brien, Kalyan Banerjie and Samajwadi Party's Ram Gopal Yadav supported him.
Members also objected to the statement of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who said state governments can have flexibility to make their own laws for acquiring the land.
Sources say former Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, who authored UPA's land acquisition bill, pointed out that the 2013 law was enacted under entry 42 of the concurrent list of the Constitution. So if a state assembly enacted law is in conflict with Parliament-enacted law, then the Central will prevail.
In all, the committee has received 672 representations and only two of them favour the changes proposed by the NDA government, claimed an Opposition member.