Given Parliament’s importance in deliberating the legislation and scrutinising the work of the
government through debates, one hopes the washed out monsoon session was an aberration .
The winter session of Parliament
that starts today follows
a monsoon session
that did not see any work
being done in the Rajya Sabha
and only a few discussions
in the Lok Sabha. This session starts
with two days being dedicated to discussing
the contributions of B.R. Ambedkar
before moving on to routine business
from Monday (November 30).
The government has listed 20 bills for
consideration and passing. These include
the Constitution Amendment Bill, to enable
the introduction of the Goods and
Services Tax (GST); the Electricity
(Amendment) Bill; the Real Estate (Regulation
and Development) Bill; the Child
Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)
Amendment Bill; the Juvenile Justice
(Care and Protection of Children) Bill;
the Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment)
Bill, and the Prevention of Corruption
(Amendment) Bill.
The GST Constitution Amendment
Bill is just the first step in the legislative
process to introduce this tax. The Constitution
Amendment needs to be passed by
both Houses by a two-thirds majority — it
has been passed by the Lok Sabha but will
be referred back to that House if the Rajya
Sabha amends it. Then it needs to be ratified
by 15 State Legislatures before it gets
the President’s assent. This would set the
stage for the introduction of the Bill in
both Parliament and the State Legislatures
to impose the tax, and repeal various
other tax laws such as excise acts, sale
tax acts, and so on.
Finding a mutually agreeable position
Given the supermajority requirement,
the GST Bill will require the support of
most of the opposition parties. This Bill
was referred by the Rajya Sabha to a select
committee. The dissent note given by
the members of the Congress indicates
that they support the idea of GST with
some changes in the Bill. These include
setting a cap of 18 per cent on the tax rate,
creating a dispute settlement authority
for implementation issues by the Centre
or the States, removing the 1 per cent tax
on inter-State sale of goods, and inclusion
of tobacco, alcohol and electricity in the
GST. The success of the government in
getting this Bill passed will depend on its
ability to find a mutually agreeable position
on many of these issues.
The Electricity Bill is a significant
move towards greater competition in the
sector. The Electricity Act 2003 trifurcated
the sector into generation, transmission
and distribution. The distribution
companies purchase power from the generating
companies, carry it using the networks
of the transmission companies,
and have a distribution system through
which they supply electricity to the final
consumer. This Bill further bifurcates
distribution by enabling supply companies.
This means that distribution companies
will maintain the last mile network
while supply companies will purchase
electricity from the generators, pay the
transmission and distribution companies
for using their networks, and supply to
the end consumer. The Bill envisages
multiple supply companies in a geographical
area which would compete for
business and lead to improved customer
service and lower tarifs.
The Real Estate Regulation Bill seeks
to regulate the transactions between developers
of residential property and
buyers. It recognises the information and
power asymmetry between developers
and customers, and establishes various
norms for developers. These include registering
all projects, disclosure on websites
of the layout plan and completion
date, separate bank account for each project
and ensuring that 70 per cent of the
funds collected are used for construction
of the project.
The Juvenile Justice Bill has been
passed by the Lok Sabha and has to be taken
up by the Rajya Sabha. The age at
which a person may be tried as an adult is
being reduced from 18 years to 16 years in
case of heinous crimes (which carry a
maximum punishment of at least seven
years imprisonment). The Bill also has
provisions for children in need of care
and protection, and adoptions (a single
male cannot adopt a girl child). It sets
punishment for ofences, some of which
do not appear proportional to the gradation
of the ofence. For example, giving a
child (that is, a person below 18 years of
age) any intoxicating liquor or tobacco
product may lead to a prison sentence of
seven years, while the maximum punishment
for selling or buying a child is five
years imprisonment.
The Child Labour Act is being amended.
Currently, children below 14 years of
age cannot be employed in hazardous industries
(which include domestic service).
The Bill amends this to prohibit the
employment of children below 14 years in
all occupations except when the child
helps his/her family after school hours.
The Bill prohibits children between the
ages of 14 and 18 years from entering hazardous
occupations.
Curbing corruption
Two Bills related to curbing corruption
are also part of this session’s list of business.
Currently, the Prevention of Corruption
Act makes giving a bribe to a public
servant an abetment to the main
ofence. The Bill amends this provision to
explicitly make this an ofence. The Act
requires prior sanction for prosecution of
public oicials; the Bill extends this protection
to former oicials.
The Whistle Blowers Protection Act
was passed last year to protect persons
making disclosures related to corruption.
This Act is being amended to prohibit
disclosures under 10 categories (the same
list under which information may be denied
in the Right to Information Act).
The agenda also includes the introduction
of 14 Bills. These include the Nuclear
Safety Regulatory Authority Bill, an earlier
version of which was introduced by the
United Progressive Alliance government
but lapsed with the dissolution of the last
Lok Sabha, and the Indian Institutes of
Management Bill which will regulate
these institutions and give them the power
to grant degrees (currently, they can
only give diplomas).
Other than legislative business, several
members are likely to raise other issues
for discussions. The government also
needs to get supplementary demand for
grants to be passed.
The first year of the current Parliament
saw significant work done with limited
disruptions. This was followed by the
monsoon session in which there was very
little productivity. Given the importance
of Parliament’s role in deliberating the
various legislative bills and scrutinising
the work of the government through constructive
debates, one hopes that the last
session was an aberration, and that we
can see a productive winter session
ahead.
(M.R. Madhavan is the President and
co-founder of PRS Legislative
Research.)
