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Money Bill route for Contentious Amendments
Context:
Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud agreed to list petitions challenging the Centre’s Money Bill route to passing contentious amendments in the Parliament.
More in Nws:
- The Money Bill question was referred to a seven-judge Bench in November 2019 by a five-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi in the case of Rojer Mathew vs South Indian Bank Ltd (2019).
- The cardinal issue is whether such amendments could be passed as a Money Bill, circumventing the Rajya Sabha, in violation of Article 110 of the Constitution.
About money Bill:
Article 110 of the Constitution deals with the definition of money bills:It states that a bill is deemed to be a money bill if it contains ‘only’ provisions dealing with all or any of the following matters:
- The imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax;
- The regulation of the borrowing of money by the Union government;
- The custody of the Consolidated Fund of India or the contingency fund of India, the payment of monies into or the withdrawal of money from any such fund;
- The appropriation of money out of the Consolidated Fund of India;
- Declaration of any expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of India or increasing the amount of any such expenditure;
- The receipt of money on account of the Consolidated Fund of India or the public account of India or the custody or issue of such money, or the audit of the accounts of the Union or of a state; or
- Any matter incidental to any of the matters specified above.
However, a bill is not to be deemed to be a money bill by reason only that it provides for:
- The imposition of fines or other pecuniary penalties, or
- The demand for payment of fees for licences or fees for services rendered; or
- The imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax by any local authority or body for local purposes.
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Financial bills:
Financial bills are of three kinds:
This classification implies that money bills are simply a species of financial bills.
Hence, all money bills are financial bills, but all Financial bills are not money bills.
Only those financial bills are money bills that contain exclusively those matters that are mentioned in Article 110 of the Constitution. These are also certified by the Speaker of Lok Sabha as money bills. |
Passage of the Bill (Article 109):
- Lok Sabha : Money bill can only be introduced in the Lok Sabha and that too on the recommendation of the president. Every such bill is considered to be a government bill and can be introduced only by a minister.
- Role of Lok Sabha Speaker:The Speaker of the Lok Sabha has to certify that a bill being introduced in the house is a Money Bill.
- Judicial Review: Supreme Court in 2018 while delivering the judgement upholding the Aadhaar Act stated that the Speaker’s decision will be subject to judicial scrutiny.
- Rajya Sabha: After a money bill is passed by the Lok Sabha, it is transmitted to the Rajya Sabha for its consideration.
- The Rajya Sabha has restricted powers with regard to a money bill.
- It cannot reject or amend a money bill. It can only make the recommendations. It must return the bill to the Lok Sabha within 14 days, whether with or without recommendations.
- The Lok Sabha can either accept or reject all or any of the recommendations of the Rajya Sabha.
- Joint Sitting: No provision of joint sitting of both the Houses.
- President: It can be rejected or approved but cannot be returned for reconsideration by him.
Challenges with respect to passage as a Money bill:
- Circumvention of the Rajya Sabha: The government is accused of misusing the Money Bill provision to evade scrutiny of the Bill by the Rajya Sabha where it was numerically weaker as compared to the Lok Sabha where it enjoyed pre-eminence.
- Ambiguity in Article 110: The definition of what constitutes a Money Bill under Article 110 of the Constitution is somewhat ambiguous, leading to differing interpretations and potential misuse.
- Broad Classification: Bills that include non-financial provisions are sometimes classified as Money Bills, which can lead to disputes over their validity e.g. Appellate Tribunal Rules of 2017 passed with Finance Act 2017.
- Scope of Judicial Review on Speakers power to declare money bill is still not clear.There are allegations of partisan role by the speaker through the sole discretion given to the speaker for certifying the bill as a money bill.
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Cases Challenged Concerning the Passage Of Bills As Money Bills:
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