NEW DELHI: The first session of 17 Lok Sabha is set to see a government pushing the highest number of Bills in over 15 years. The Parliament has already passed 12 Bills and is likely to consider at least 10 more.Data collated by PRS Legislative and shared exclusively with ET reveals that this is the most number of Bills passed in the first or Budget session of a new Lok Sabha in 15 years. This time, the Modi government has made an exception and clubbed the first session of Parliament (which involves oath taking by elected MPs and Presidential address to joint sitting of both Houses) with the Budget session. Since 14th Lok Sabha in 2004 till the 16th Lok Sabha in 2014, the first session has seen no legislative business. Even the Budget session has seen very few Bills being pushed. In 2004, the Budget session, between July 5 and August 26, saw only six Bills being passed. The Budget session of 15th Lok Sabha, between July 2 and August 7, saw eight Bills being passed. This number increased to 12 in the first Budget session of 16th Lok Sabha, between July 7 and August 14. The current session would obviously see the number increase beyond 12 as it has already passed this number and there are more Bills on the government’s agenda.The move has come under fire from the Opposition which has demanded improved parliamentary scrutiny. At present, the standing committees are not in place and the new Bills cannot be referred to these committees. The Opposition can only demand Bills be referred to select committee. The Opposition feels that the government is using its overwhelming majority to push legislations, which require closer examination of a standing committee. This is not the first time that the committees are not in place when the Budget session is on. The only time the committees were formed during the Budget session of a new Lok Sabha was in 14th LOk Sabha under Congress-led UPA-I when the committees were formed by August 5. The Budget session ended on August 26.In the 15th LOk Sabha, the Budget session ended on August 7 and the committees were in place only on August 31. Under Modi 1.0, the committees were in place only by September 1, a fortnight after the Budget session ended on August 14.Trinamool Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’ Brien said, “How many Bills were passed in these Budget sessions? Hardly any. So there was the option of submitting them to parliamentary scrutiny. But here the government is rushing through Bill after Bill and murdering democracy.” CPI (M) MP K K Ragesh said, “We will not allow Parliament to become Gujarat Assembly.”The government is also under pressure as it had promulgated several Ordinances in February and March 2019. It has to convert at least 10 Ordinances, including the politically sensitive Triple Talaq , into Acts of Parliament within 45 days of beginning of the session else they would lapse. The Ordinances lined up include the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Ordinance, the Companies (Amendment) Ordinance, the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance, New Delhi International Arbitration Centre Ordinance, the Homeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Ordinance and Special Economic Zone (Amendment) Ordinance.