Finance Bill, 2017, which amends more than 30 laws, passed by LS

On March 21, the Lok Sabha debated provisions of the Finance Bill, 2017 which apart from bringing into effect the government’s financial proposals for the forthcoming year, proposes amendments to more than 30 different laws. Among other things, these amendments will make Aadhaar mandatory for filing tax returns, introduce electoral bonds for funding of political parties and reduce the legal cap on cash transactions from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.

The broad and sweeping nature of the the proposed amendments prompted some members of Parliament to raise objections about whether the government was tagging non-tax bills to the Finance Bill. NK Premachandran, Member of Parliament from Kollam, Kerala, termed the Bill a “backdoor legislation”. He also added that when the Bill was originally introduced on February 1, 2017, only 8-10 acts were proposed to be amended.

The acts proposed to be amended by the Finance Bill, 2017, as introduced in Lok Sabha on February 1, 2017:

1. Income-Tax Act, 1961
2. Indian Trusts Act, 1882
3. Indian Post Office Act, 1898
4. Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934
5. Representation of the People Act, 1951
6. Oil Industry (Development) Act, 1974
7. Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992
8. Finance Act, 2005
9. Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007
10. Finance Act, 2016

However, amendments to the following Acts were added to the bill when it was up for debate yesterday:

1. Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956
2. Depositories Act, 1996
3. Companies Act, 2013

Also, amendments dealing with reform of various government tribunals (not present in the original bill) were also included. “These aim to bring uniformity in service conditions and pay structure of all those retired judges who are being appointed in all these tribunals,” according to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The acts to be amended to this end are:

1. Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
2. Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952
3. Copyright Act, 1957
4. Trade Marks Act, 1999
5.Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987
6. Railways Act, 1989
7. Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976
8. Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999
9. Airports Authority of India Act, 1994
10. Control of National Highways (Land and Traffic) Act, 2002
11. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997
12. Information Technology Act, 2000
13. Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act, 2008
14. Competition Act, 2002
15. Cinematograph Act, 1952
16. Customs Act, 1962
17. Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985
18. Consumer Protection Act, 1986
19. Recovery of Debts due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993
20. Electricity Act, 2003
21. Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007
22. National Green Tribunal Act, 2010

In all, 35 laws will be amended once the Finance Bill, 2017 is passed (possibly today) by the Lok Sabha. Being a money bill — another contentious issue — it cannot be rejected or amended by the Rajya Sabha which means it is virtually impossible to challenge its provisions. The government’s approach to amend these laws prompted Premachandran to sarcastically question why every legislation isn’t added to the Finance Bill and passed.

Update: After most of the Opposition staged a walk-out in protest over its provisions, the Finance Bill, 2017 was passed by the LS today.