10 Most Important Bills to be Tabled during this Winter Session of Parliament

winter session of parliament 2015 india

The Indian Parliament is into the Winter Session which commenced on Thursday 26th November. The session is very important as Monsoon Session was called off completely unproductive, since Modi Government was surrounded by opposition on number of controversies.

However, the Winter session is expected to table number of important bills to ensure women security and number of other bills. A total of 19 bills are pending out of which 8 are in Rajya Sabha and 11 are in Lok Sabha.

Here are the 10 most important agendas that will be included in Winter Session:

Winter Session Of Parliament

The Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014

The long awaited GST bill which intends to club a number of indirect taxes in single head, which majorly include Goods and Service tax. An affect of bill would be seen in reduced prices of daily goods, if the bill is passed. Although, the proposed bill allows center to put upon additional 1% tax on inter-state goods transfer.

Negotiable Instruments (Second Amendment) Ordinance, Arbitration and Conciliation Amendment Ordinance, and the Commercial Courts Ordinances

Earlier this year, the Centre took the ordinance route to bring three new Bills into force. In September, the Negotiable Instruments (Second Amendment) Ordinance was passed to clarify jurisdictional issues in cheque bouncing cases under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.

Then, in October, two more ordinances were propagated – the Arbitration and Conciliation Amendment Ordinance, and the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Ordinance.

Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2014

The most controversial bill proposed by the legislators, which aims to treat offenders of age group which is 16-18 years as adults in case of odious crime. This very clause was opposed by Parliamentary Standing Committee, a report of which says that as per NCRB records; there is no rush in offences by juveniles to deserve such extreme legislation.

The Bill also seeks to introduce procedures for adoption, which the Standing Committee have dismissed as biased towards inter-country adoption.

Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2012

This Bill proposes to prohibit employing children under the age of 14 years in an extensive list of occupations and processes. However, the child may be allowed to help her family after school hours. The Bill also makes a division among a child and an adolescent (14-18 years), who is prohibited from being employed in dangerous occupations including mines, work involving inflammable substances and hazardous processes listed under the Factories Act.

Whistleblowers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015

The Vyapam expose and its consequential argue has necessitated a more effective law to protect whistleblowers. However, differing to this objective, the Centre seeks to pass a modification further diluting the existing law. The amendment proposes to add ten categories under which information may not be disclosed by the whistleblower. These exceptions are modeled on the lines of those contained in Section 8(1) of the RTI Act.

A major difference between the two is that the RTI Act provides for an appeal process in case information is not made public. Moreover, under the RTI Act, the public authority may choose to reveal the information if he feels that it is in the larger public interest.

Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013

The Centre’s anti-corruption line in this amendment seeks to enforce more severe penalties on corrupt government officials. The minimum sentence is proposed to be increased from 6 months to 3 years, and the maximum sentence from 5 to 7 years.

However, to prove criminal delinquency, it must also be proved that the government official had an intention of acquiring disproportionate assets. Further, bribe givers will no longer be protected from tribunal if they testify as a witness during the corruption trial.

The amendment also comes as a relief for corporate, as it seeks to do away with the extension of liability to the organization as a whole if a particular member of the organization is found guilty of corruption.

High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, 2015

The bill is aimed towards making an important change, in which have proposed additional 10 years of Bar Practice to be eligible for the service of High Court Judge and for the purpose of calculating pension.

The Bill also provides for a revamp of leave allowances for Supreme Court and High Court judges. For the Chief Justice of India, it will be 50% of his monthly salary rate; for other judges of the apex court, it will be 55%. The Chief Justice of a High Court will also get 55% of his salary as leave allowance, whereas other High Court judges will get 60%.

Repealing and Amending (Fourth) Bill, 2015

Pursuant to the Centre’s Endeavour to do away with obsolete laws, this Bill proposed to repeal 295 laws documented by the Law Ministry and the Law Commission. It also seeks to make minor changes to the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Work Place (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, and the Governors (Emoluments, Allowances and Privileges) Amendment Act, 2014.

High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2015

This Bill will be introduced in order to “facilitate changing the name of High Courts whenever the need arises”. The Centre has taken a call to introduce this Bill amidst demands that various high courts be renamed to correspond to their city names. We may well see the Mumbai High Court and the Chennai High Court in the near future.

The National Commission for Women Bill, 2015

This Bill proposes to repeal the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 and to “adequately protect the rights of women”.

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