The passage of the Finance Bill, 2017, along with 40 amendments, including two other laws, have unified the opposition parties who are considering legal recourse against the hurried passage of the Finance Bill and the amendments in the Lok Sabha.
On Wednesday, the Lok Sabha, where the ruling BJP has a majority, had passed all the amendments to Finance Bill, 2017 by voice vote. Notably, the bill was passed after Speaker Sumitra Mahajan allowed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to make exceptions to parliamentary rules to bring in some of these amendments as part of the Money Bill.
"With the pretext of the Finance Bill, they are mending so many Acts. If these amendments are not part of the Money Bill, it has to go to standing committee and the Rajya Sabha. But they are doing this to avoid threadbare discussions," said N K Premachandran from RSP and an MP from Kollam in Kerala.
On the day of the discussion on Finance Bill amendments, Premachandran stood up in Lok Sabha to oppose Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
"Nowadays, the Finance Bill has become a protective umbrella to make legislations without having a detailed scrutiny in the pretext of Money Bill," Premachandran said during the discussion at the Parliament.
He also invoked parliamentary rules urging the speaker of the house to exclude amendments that involve other laws and are not specific to the Finance Bill.
"The government wants to avoid threadbare discussions before bringing in permanent changes. The rules of proceedings of Lok Sabha are very clear about what could be included in it. I am considering to take legal recourse on this matter and we will discuss this in our party," Premachandran told THE WEEK.
Reacting to the manner in which the finance ministry sought some last minute amendments before discussion on them Lok Sabha chief whip of Biju Janata Dal Bhartruhari Mahtab drew attention of the Speaker, but to no avail. Consequently, he and his party members walked out of the Lok Sabha in protest during the passage of the Finance Bill amendments by voice vote.
"Our issues were about the last minute circulation of these amendments. This did not conform to any rules. The government expects MPs to blindly pass their amendments without doing any discussion," said Mahtab.
"For linking Aadhaar with Income Tax filing, they must amend the Company law first. Then they have opened floodgates for corporate funding to political parties. Removed caps to contribution that were existing or the need to make any revelations to anyone. All these will now create conflicts and result in litigations. The government may have avoided discussion now, but they may have to give explanations to courts later," said Mahtab, adding these litigations will be taken up individually later.
Earlier in 2003, a legislation was passed capping corporate contributions to political parties at five per cent of the average net annual profit of a company. The recent amendment seeks to remove this cap.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) was another party that lodged protest on the Finance Bill amendments this year and staged a walkout from Lok Sabha. TMC is also keen on litigations as the next step.
"All these are now the law. There is not much the party or any members could do about it now. The main objection was on Aadhaar being made mandatory for tax filing purposes. Our government will protest this," said TMC MP Saugata Roy, indicating that the TMC-ruled West Bengal government might approach courts over the amendment.
Apprehensions are also being cast on the powers that the recent Fiance Bill amendments have awarded to taxmen. "It is a very dangerous precedent to give boundless powers for search and seizure. Going ahead, this will result in more tax litigations," said Vincent H Pala, INC MP from Goa.
"Let them pass the amendments here. We will take it to the streets and to the court," said Pala.
Last year, too, the Finance Bill was passed in a similar hurried fashion in the Parliament and senior parliamentarian from INC Jairam Ramesh is known to have filed a litigation in the Supreme Court against the same.
According to Pala, the party could also make a fresh litigation in the court over the passage of Finance Bill amendments made this year, or it could add these to the earlier litigation that is due for hearing shortly by the apex court.
