Money bill as ruse to avoid debate this practice abuses democracy

Money bill as ruse to avoid debate this practice abuses democracy

The government’s move to tag substantive amendments, many of the 40 relating to diverse aspects of regulation and representation, on to the Finance Bill is an unwelcome blow to the heart of Indian democracy. By incorporating these amendments, which include subjects as diverse as the mandatory necessity of Aadhaar numbers for income-tax returns, removing transparency in political donations and government meddling in the process of appointing appellate tribunals, the Bill seeks to bypass broader parliamentary scrutiny and debate. The government’s claim that these diverse amendments can be lumped together as a Money Bill, outside the scrutiny of the Rajya Sabha, where the BJP is in a minority, holds no water. Most of the 40 amendments proposed have nothing to do with Article 110(1) of the Constitution, defining a Money Bill: related to changes in taxation, spending of taxpayer money, changes in Central or state accounting, etc. Many of these amendments are ridiculous. The merging of tribunals is devoid of rationale.
Thus, the airports regulator is sought to be subsumed under the telecommunications arbitrator. Where is the logic here? Or for that matter, when the national highways jurisdiction is swallowed up by the airports appellate tribunal? Can company law jurisdiction take over from an anti-monopoly board? And can only be justified by the government’s desire to curb the autonomy of appellate tribunals? Removing the method of appointment of regulatory bodies from their relevant statutes to rules to be formed by the government at will smacks of a desire to fill these bodies with people who might well be trained as ventriloquist dummies.
The aam taxpayer has reasons to worry — tax officials have been given a freer hand to harass them. Removing the cap of 7.5% of the average profits of the past three years for political contributions, in combination with the wholly opaque electoral bonds, makes it possible to set up companies for the sole purpose of channelling anonymous funds to favoured political parties. All these merit separate laws of their own.