Legislative Procedure in Parliament

 About: The legislative procedure is identical in both the Houses of Parliament. Every
bill has to pass through the same stages in each House.
 Bill: A bill is a proposal for legislation that becomes an act or law when duly enacted.
o Types of Bills: Bills introduced in the Parliament are of two kinds; public
bills (government bills) and private bills.
o Classification: The bills introduced in the Parliament can be classified into four
categories:
 Ordinary bills: concerned with any matter other than financial subjects.
 Money bills: concerned with financial matters like taxation, public
expenditure, etc.
 Financial bills: concerned with financial matters (but are different from
money bills).
 Constitution Amendment Bills: concerned with the amendment of the
provisions of the Constitution.

Types of Bills
Public Bill Private Bill

It is introduced in the parliament by a It can be introduced by any member of the

minister. parliament other than a minister.

It reflects the policies of the It reflects the mood of the political party on
government (ruling party). public matters.

It has a greater chance to be passed by It is less likely to be passed by the

parliament. parliament.

Its introduction
Money in the house
Bills & Financial Bills requires 7 Its introduction in the house requires a prior
days notice. notice of one month.
Financial Bills
Characteristics Money Bills
It is drafted by the concerned Its drafting is the responsibility of the
Financial Bill-I Financial Bill-II
department in consultation with the Law members concerned.
department.
Constitutional Article 110 deals with Article 117(1) deals Article
Provisions: money bills. with Finance Bill 117(3) deals
with Finance
Bills-II

Deals ‘only’ with the Also deals with Contains provisi

provisions of Article matters of general ons involving
110. legislation (along with expenditure fro
provisions of article m Consolidated
110). Fund of
India but are
not included in
Article 110.

Certification of S/He decides whether No No

Speaker: a bill is a money bill Certification required. Certification re
or not. quired.

Introduced in: Only in Lok Sabha. Only in Lok Sabha. In both houses.

President’s Needed to introduce Required Not required

Recommendation: them.

Bills in Rajya Cannot be Can be amended or Can be

Sabha: amended or rejected. rejected. amended or
rejected.

President’s Can either accept or Can return it for Can return it for
Power: reject a money bill reconsideration. reconsideration
but cannot return it .
for reconsideration.

Joint Sitting of the No provision to The President The President

Houses: resolve the deadlock. can summon. can summon.

Classification of Bills
 Ordinary Bills About: Every ordinary bill has to pass through the following five stages
in the Parliament before it finds a place on the Statute Book.
 First Reading: It can be introduced in either House of Parliament either by a minister
or by any other member. The bill is published in the Gazette of India.

o The introduction of the bill and its publication in the Gazette constitute the first
reading of the bill.
 Second Reading: It is the most important stage in the enactment of a bill and involves
three more sub-stages:
o Stage of General Discussion: At this stage, the House can take any one of the
following four actions:
 It may take the bill into consideration immediately or on some other fixed
date.
 It may refer the bill to a select committee of the House.
 It may refer the bill to a joint committee of the two Houses
 It may circulate the bill to elicit public opinion.
o Committee Stage: This committee examines the bill thoroughly and in detail,
clause by clause.
 It can also amend its provisions, but without altering the principles
underlying it.
o Consideration Stage: The House, after receiving the bill from the selected
committee, considers the provisions of the Bill clause by clause.

 Each clause is discussed and voted upon separately.

 Third Reading: At this stage, the debate is confined to the acceptance or rejection of
the bill.
o If the majority of the members present and voting accept the bill, the bill is
regarded as passed by the House.

 A bill is deemed to have been passed by the Parliament only when both the
Houses have agreed to it, either with or without amendments.
 Bill in the Second House: In the second House, the bill passes through all
the three stages. The second House may:

o Pass the bill as sent by the first house (i.e., without amendments).

 In such a case, the bill is deemed to have been passed by both the Houses
and is sent to the president for his assent.
o Pass the bill with amendments and return it to the first House for
reconsideration.
o Reject the bill altogether.
o Not take any action and thus keep the bill pending.
  If the second House rejects the bill altogether or does not take any action
for six months; a deadlock is deemed to have taken place for which
the president can summon a joint sitting of the two Houses.
 Assent of the President: Every bill after being passed by both Houses of Parliament
either singly or at a joint sitting is presented to the President for his assent. The
President may:

o Give his assent to the bill.

o Withhold his assent to the bill.
o Return the bill for reconsideration of the Houses. Thus, the President enjoys
only a “suspensive veto.”
Constitutional Amendment Bills

 About: As per the Constitution of India, Constitution Amendment Bills can be of three
types requiring:

o A Simple majority for their passage in each House.

o A Special majority for their passage in each House
o A Special majority for their passage and ratification by Legislatures of not less
than one-half of the States by resolutions to that effect passed by those
Legislatures.
 House of Introduction: Under article 368, it can be introduced in either House of
Parliament and has to be passed by each House by special majority.

o There is no provision of joint sittings on a Constitution Amending Bill (or in a

Money Bill).
Joint Sitting Of Two Houses

 About: Joint sitting is extraordinary machinery provided by the Constitution to resolve

a deadlock between the two Houses over the passage of a bill.
 Conditions of Deadlock: A deadlock is deemed to have taken place under any one of
the following three situations:

o If the bill is rejected by the other House.

o If the Houses have finally disagreed as to the amendments to be made in the bill.
o If more than six months have elapsed from the date of the receipt of the bill by
the other House without the bill being passed by it.
 Applicability: The provision of joint sitting is applicable to ordinary bills or financial
bills only and not to money bills or Constitutional amendment bills.

o In the case of a money bill, the Lok Sabha has overriding powers, while a
Constitutional amendment bill must be passed by each House separately.
 Role of Speaker: The Speaker of Lok Sabha presides over a joint sitting of the two
Houses and the Deputy Speaker, in his absence.

o If both are absent, the Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha presides.

 Quorum: The quorum to constitute a joint sitting is one-tenth of the total number of
members of the two Houses.
 Instances of Joint Sittings: Since 1950, the provision regarding the joint sitting of the
two Houses has been invoked only thrice. The bills that have been passed at joint
sittings are:

o Dowry Prohibition Bill, 1960.

o Banking Service Commission (Repeal) Bill, 1977.
o Prevention of Terrorism Bill, 2002.
Parliamentary Privilege

 About: Parliamentary privileges are certain rights and immunities enjoyed by

members of Parliament, individually and collectively, so that they can “effectively
discharge their functions”.

o When any of these rights and immunities are disregarded, the offence is called a
breach of privilege and is punishable under law of Parliament.
 Privileges in the Constitution: The Constitution (Article 105 for Parliament and Article
194 for State Assemblies) mentions two privileges, i.e. freedom of speech in
Parliament and right of publication of its proceedings.
 Provisions in the Rule Book: Rule No 222 in Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rule
Book and correspondingly Rule 187 in Chapter 16 of the Rajya Sabha
rulebook governs the parliamentary privileges.
Process of passing of Budget

Stages in Enactment of Budget

The budgetary process in India goes through the following six stages in the
Indian Parliament:

Presentation of Budget
General Discussion
Scrutiny by Departmental Committees
Voting on Demands for Grants
Passing of Appropriation Bill
Passing of Finance Bill

All these stages of the budgetary process in India have been discussed in detail
in the sections that follow.

Presentation of Budget

 The budgetary process in India begins with the Presentation of the

Budget.
 Traditionally, the Union Budget of India was presented on the last
working day of February. However, since 2017, the presentation of the
Union Budget has been advanced to 1st February.
 The Budget can also be presented to the Lok Sabha in two or more
parts.
 When such a presentation takes place, each part shall be dealt with as if
it were the budget.
 There shall be no discussion of the budget on the day of presentation.

Budget Speech

 The Finance Minister presents the budget with a speech known as

“Budget Speech”.
 At the end of the speech in the Lok Sabha, the Budget is laid before the
Rajya Sabha. This is a crucial part of the budgetary process in India.

Presentation of Economic Survey

  The Economic Survey is a report prepared by the Ministry of Finance,
which indicates the status of the national economy. It is also a
significant part of the budgetary process in India.
 The Economic Survey is presented to the Parliament one day or a few
days before the presentation of the Budget.
 Earlier, it used to be presented to the Parliament along with the
Budget.

General Discussion

 After the first stage, the budgetary process goes through the second
stage of General Discussion.
 The General Discussion takes place in both Houses of Parliament and
lasts usually for three to four days.
 At this stage, the Lok Sabha can discuss the Budget as a whole or any
question of principle involved therein.
 The Finance Minister has a general right of reply at the end of the
general discussion on the Budget.
 No cut motion can be moved nor the budget can be submitted to
vote at this stage.

Scrutiny by Departmental Committees

 In the budgetary process, after the General Discussion on the budget is

over, both Houses of Parliament are adjourned for about three to four
weeks.
 During this gap period, the 24 Departmental Standing
Committees (DSCs) of Parliament examine and discuss in detail
the demands for grants of the concerned Ministries, prepare reports on
them, and then submit those reports to both Houses for their
consideration.

Voting on Demands for Grants

 Based on the reports of the Departmental Standing Committees of the

Parliament, the Lok Sabha takes up voting on the Demands for
Grants in the budgetary process.
 A “Demand for Grant” becomes a “Grant” after it has been duly voted
upon by the Lok Sabha.
 The following points are to be noted w.r.t Voting on Demand for Grants
in the budgetary process:
 o The Demands for Grants are presented ministry-wise.
o The voting on Demands for Grants is the exclusive privilege of
the Lok Sabha.
o The Rajya Sabha has no power of voting on Demands for Grants.
o Each Demand is voted separately by the Lok Sabha.
o The voting on Demand for Grants by the Lok Sabha is confined to
the votable part of the budget in the budgetary process.
o The expenditure“charged” to the Consolidated Fund of
India can only be discussed by the Lok Sabha, but not submitted
to vote.

Cut Motion

 As a part of the budgetary process, before voting, the Lok Sabha

discusses the details of the budget and can move motions to reduce any
Demand for Grants.
 The ‘Cut Motion’ are of three types – Policy Cut Motion, Economy Cut
Motion, and Token Cut Motion.

Policy Cut Motion

 The Policy Cut Motion represents the disapproval of the policy

underlying the demand for a grant.
 This motion states that the amount of the demand be reduced to Rs 1.
 The members can also advocate an alternative policy.

Economy Cut Motion

 The Economy Cut Motion represents the economy that can be

affected by the proposed expenditure.
 This motion states that the amount of the demand be reduced by a
specified amount.

Token Cut Motion

 The Token Cut Motion ventilates a specific grievance that is within the
sphere of responsibility of the Government of India.
 This motion states that the amount of the demand be reduced by Rs
100.
Guillotine

Under the budgetary process, on the final day allocated for discussion and
voting on the Demands for Grants, the Speaker of Lok Sabha puts all the
remaining demands to vote and disposes of them, whether they have
been discussed by the members or not. This procedural method is commonly
referred to as the ‘guillotine’.

Passing of Appropriation Bill

 The Indian Constitution states that ‘no money shall be withdrawn from
the Consolidated Fund of India except under appropriation made by
law’ in the budgetary process.
 This means that in order to enable the Union Government to withdraw
money from the Consolidated Fund of India under the demands for
grants approved by it, the Parliament needs to enact the corresponding
Appropriation Bill.
 Accordingly, in the budgetary process, after the Demands for Grants are
voted on and passed by the Lok Sabha, an Appropriation Bill is
introduced to provide for the appropriation, out of the Consolidated
Fund of India, of all money required to meet:
o The grants were voted on by the Lok Sabha, and
o The expenditure “charged” on the Consolidated Fund of India.
 No such amendment can be proposed to the Appropriation Bill in
either House of the Parliament that will have the effect of:
o Varying the amount or altering the destination of any grant voted,
or
o Varying the amount of any expenditure charged on the
Consolidated Fund of India.
 The Appropriation Bill becomes the Appropriation Act after it is assented
to by the President.
o This Act authorizes or legalizes the payments from the
Consolidated Fund of India.

Vote on Account

The constitutional requirement of ‘appropriation made by law’ means that the

Union Government cannot withdraw money from the Consolidated Fund of
India till the enactment of the Appropriation Bill. However, the whole
budgetary process of the enactment of the Appropriation Bill takes time and
usually goes on till the end of April. But the Union Government needs money
to carry on its normal activities after the 31st of March (the end of the
financial year).

To overcome this functional difficulty, the Indian Constitution has authorized

the Lok Sabha to make any Grant in Advance with respect to the estimated
expenditure for a part of the financial year, pending the completion of the
voting of the Demands for Grants and the enactment of the Appropriation Bill.
This provision in the budgetary process is known as the ‘Vote on Account’.

The following points are to be noted w.r.t. Vote on Account in the budgetary
process:

 The Vote on Account is passed or granted after the General Discussion

on a Budget is over.
 The Vote on Account is generally granted for two months for an amount
equivalent to one-sixth of the total estimation of the Union Budget.
 In an election year when the Lok Sabha is to be dissolved or a new Lok
Sabha is constituted, the Vote on Account may be taken for a longer
period (for about 3 to 5 months).

– From 2017 onwards, the Union Budget is presented on 1st February every
year, thus advancing the cycle of the budgetary process of the enactment of
the budget by almost a month (from the earlier date of budget presentation
on the last working day of February).
– This change has enabled the Indian Parliament to avoid a Vote on
Account and pass a single Appropriation Bill for the year, before the close of
the financial year.
– Accordingly, the Vote on Account is presented in the election year when
the Interim Budget is presented.

Passing of Finance Bill

 The ‘Finance Bill’ means the bill ordinarily introduced in each year to
give effect to the financial proposals of the Government of India for the
next financial year and includes a bill to give effect to supplementary
financial proposals for any period.
 The Finance Bill becomes the Finance Act after it is assented to by the
President.
 In the budgetary process, the Finance Act legalizes the income side of
the budget and completes the process of the enactment of the budget.
  During the stage of the passing of the Finance Bill, a Member of
Parliament (MP) can discuss matters relating to general administration,
local grievances within the sphere of the responsibility of the
Government of India, or the monetary or financial policy of the Union
Government.
 The following points are to be noted w.r.t. Finance Bill
o The Finance Bill is subjected to all the conditions applicable to a
Money Bill.
o Unlike the Appropriation Bill, the amendments (seeking to reject
or reduce a tax) can be moved in the case of a Finance Bill.

Parliamentary committee

A Parliamentary committee is a committee of Members of Parliament (MPs) who are

elected or appointed from amongst the members of the house or nominated by
the Speaker or Chairman. The concept of Parliamentary committees originated in the
British Parliament. These committees operate under the direction of the Speaker of Lok
Sabha or Chairman of Rajya Sabha and present their findings and recommendations to the
respective houses.

The Parliamentary committees draw their authority from the constitution.

 Article 105: Powers, privileges, etc., of the houses of Parliament and of the members
and committees thereof.
 Article 118: Each House of Parliament may make rules for regulations, subject to the
provisions of this constitution, its procedure and the conduct of its business.

By their nature, Parliamentary Committees in India are of two kinds:

 Standing committees.
 Ad hoc committees.

Standing committees

The Standing committees are permanent committees that are constituted by the
Parliament to deal with specific areas of public policy or administration. These committees
are constituted at the beginning of each session of Parliament and continue until the end of
the session.

Name of committee Number of Tenure Members nominated or

members elected
 Estimates committee 30 1 year Elected by the Lok sabha
  Public accounts committee 22 (15LS + 7RS) 1 year Elected by the two
houses
 Committee on Public 22 (15LS + 7RS) 1 year Elected by the two
Undertakings houses

Committees to Inquire  Committees on Petitions and Privilege

 Ethics committee

Committees to Scrutinize  Committees on Government Assurances, Subordinate

and Control Legislation, Papers Laid on the Table, Welfare of SCs and
STs, Empowerment of Women.
 Joint committee on offices of profit.

Committees Relating to  Business advisory committee,

the Day-to-Day Business  Rules committee,
of the House  Committee on
o Private Members’ Bills and Resolutions,
o Absence of Members from Sittings of the House,

House-Keeping  General purposes committee,

committees or Service  House committee,
committees  Library committee,
 Joint committee on salaries and allowances of members.

Departmental standing  Committee on Commerce, Home Affairs, Human Resource

committees Development, Industry, etc.

Ad hoc committees

 Ad hoc committees are temporary committees constituted for a specific

purpose and for a limited period of time. These committees are usually
constituted to consider and report on a specific bill or to inquire into a
particular matter of public importance. These committees are dissolved
once they have completed their work.
 Ad hoc committees can be divided into two categories:
o Inquiry committees
o Advisory committees
  The principal Ad hoc committees are the Select and Joint committees on
Bills, Railway convention committee, Joint committee on food
management in Parliament House Complex, etc.

Some of the power and functions of the Parliamentary committees:

 Reviewing and scrutinising the work of the government: Parliamentary

committees examine the policies and programmes of the government and
make recommendations for improvement.
 Power to summon ministers and officials: They have the power to call
ministers and officials to testify before them and to ask them questions
about their policies and actions.
 Examination of bills: Parliamentary committees play a key role in the
legislative process by examining and reviewing bills before they are passed
into law.
 To make recommendations: They can make recommendations for changes
to the bill and ensure that it is consistent with the constitution and the laws
of the land.