You could use a set:
b_set = set(map(tuple,a)) #need to convert the inner lists to tuples so they are hashable
b = map(list,b_set) #Now convert tuples back into lists (maybe unnecessary?)
Or, if you prefer list comprehensions/generators:
b_set = set(tuple(x) for x in a)
b = [ list(x) for x in b_set ]
Finally, if order is important, you can always sort b:
b.sort(key = lambda x: a.index(x) )