Facing criticism over non-passage of key economic bills in the Budget Session of Parliament, government on Wednesday insisted that its reforms agenda was not on the backburner.

"One must not presume that the government agenda on economic reforms is on the backburner. Lawmaking is a very protracted process," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal told reporters here.

Noting that 21 bills were passed in the Budget Session, he said only those legislations on which there was broad agreement with the Opposition were taken up.

Bansal said that since the government had a heavy agenda this Session, it decided to bring those bills on which there was some disagreement in the next session after carrying out necessary amendments.

At the start of the Budget Session, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said he was looking forward to bringing 3-4 key economic reform bills, on which the Standing Committee had given its report, for passage.

The Committee had submitted its report on Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill 2011, the Banking Laws Amendment Bill 2011, the Insurance Laws Amendment Bill 2008 and Direct Taxes Code Bill.