New Delhi, March 2
In a bid to avoid rubbing the Left parties the wrong way at this juncture, the government today referred the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill to the Parliamentary standing committee on finance.

"The government has decided to refer the Bill to the Parliamentary standing committee on finance," B .K. Handique, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, informed the Lok Sabha.

"We will bring back a Bill in the next session of Parliament after discussion. The present ordinance may lapse," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters here.

Apart from setting up a watchdog for the sector, the Bill seeks to allow pension funds to deploy their corpus in financial instruments that are more productive and offer better returns.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance headed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi will examine the PFRDA Bill that was introduced by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday seeking to replace the ordinance issued on December 29 to set up this regulatory authority.

Although the government is assured of the Opposition NDA's support, it does not apparently want to antagonise Left parties by passing the legislation.

The Left parties are opposing the Bill as they do not approve pension funds being invested in capital market.

CPM Politburo member Prakash Karat told reporters that "we are against this pension Bill….there is no question of negotiation on this issue…we will vote against the government on this issue."

As per rules any ordinance has to be replaced by a Bill within six months of its issue or within six weeks of Parliament being convened after its promulgation.