How a Bill becomes a Law or Act in India?

The primary function of parliament is to make new laws, amend existing laws and repeal old laws. For every such procedure, a bill needs to be passed in both houses of parliament. Once passed in both the houses, bill needs to get assent of the president to become an act. The relevant articles of the constitution are 107 {Provisions as to introduction and passing of Bills}, 108 {Joint sitting of both Houses in certain cases}, 109 {Special procedure in respect of Money Bills}, 110 {money bills) and 111 {assent to bills}.

Government Bill versus Private Member Bill

If a bill is introduced in the house by a minister, it is called government bill or public bill. If the bill is introduced by any other member than a minister, it is called private member bill.  A private member bill can be introduced by both ruling party and opposition MPs. The other differences between the two are as follows:

• While Government bill needs a seven day notice for its introduction, private bill needs one month notice.
• While Government bill has more chances to get clear, private bills are generally withdrawn or get lapsed.
• Depending on the type of government bill and the majority needed to get such bill passed, the government may collapse upon its failure. For example, during budget, the government needs to get appropriation bills and finance bills passed; failure to do so would lead to collapse of government. However, no impact is on health of government when a private member bill gets rejected.

We note here that if a private member desires to introduce a bill, he/ she must give notice of his intention to the speaker. For every bill it is necessary to ask for leave of the House to introduce a Bill. If leave is granted, the bill may be introduced. After a bill has been introduced, it is published in the Gazette. However, before introduction, a bill may be published in the Gazette with the permission of the Speaker of Lok Sabha, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha. No leave is required to introduce bill in such as case.

Process of passing the ordinary bills

First Reading

Generally, there is no debate on introduction of a bill. The person (Minister or MP) who is given a leave to introduce a bill may present some broad idea to introduce the bill. This is called moving the bill or motion for introduction of the bill. The moving of the ordinary bill can be opposed by the opposition. If the introduction of the bill is opposed, speaker may allow one of the opposing members to cite the reasons. After that Speaker will put the question to vote. If the House is in favor of introduction of the bill, then the bill is introduced and passes for the next stage. Please note that the motion for introduction of a Finance Bill or an Appropriation Bill is not opposed.  This introduction is called “First Reading”.

Second Reading

After introduction, the bill is open for 4 alternative courses of action in the second stage:

• It may be taken into consideration.
• It may be forwarded to a Select Committee of the House.
• It may be referred to a Joint Committee of both the houses i.e. Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha.
• It may be circulated / put on website for purpose of eliciting the public opinion on it.

The last alternative is resorted only in a case when the proposed legislative measure may arouse a public controversy. However, if a bill is of emergent nature, any of the upper three alternatives is taken. The Select Committee or the Joint committee is expected to give its report in a stipulated time.

Select Committee / Joint Committee

The Select Committee or Joint Committee members are selected on the basis of expert knowledge. and its members also include the Opposition Members. If it is a Joint Committee, then 2/3 members are from Lok Sabha and 1/3 are from the Rajya Sabha. The report of this committee may be unanimous or majority opinion. If it is a Majority Opinion, the minority is allowed to give the “Minutes of Dissent” in the report.

Clause to Clause Discussion

The submission of the Report by the Select Committee or Joint Committee members is followed by a detailed “Clause to Clause” discussion on the bill. Each Clause is taken up by the House and amendments are moved, discussed and disposed off.  This stage is very important. The amendments which are related and pertain to the bill are moved and the Bill goes substantial changes in this stage. This is one of the most time consuming (of the house) stage of a legislative procedure.  A bill is considered “clause by clause” and when every clause is voted, this is called “Second Reading”.  Thus, the first two readings of the bill actually refine the subject matter of the bills.

Third Reading

After the second Reading, the house is given sufficient time to study the clauses of the bill. After that the MP or Minister who had moved this bill moves that “the bill is passed”. This is called Third Reading. Please note that most of the amendments in the third reading are just formal and normally verbal in nature. The discussion is limited and quick. The bill is finally passed as a whole and this marks the work of one house coming to end. The bill is sent to another house. The same three reading procedure is followed in second house of the parliament. In the second house, there are three courses for the bill:

• It is passed as it was passed in the originating house.
• It is to be amended
• It is to be rejected.

In case the course is as per the course of action 2 & 3 given above, the bill is returned to the originating house. If the second house does not return it for 6 months to the originating house it is deemed to be rejected.  Once it is returned to the originating house, the amendments suggested by the other house are considered. Here two options arise

• The amendments are accepted. In this case, the originating house sends a message to the other house that the amendments are accepted.
• The amendments are NOT accepted. In this case again the originating house sends a message to the other house that the amendments are not accepted.

In the second option given above, means when both the houses are not in agreement, a joint sitting of the two houses is called by the president.

Joint Sittings

Joint Sitting of the houses is mentioned by Article 108. As per this article, a Joint sitting is notified by the President as his/ her intention to summon the both the houses for the purpose of voting and deliberating on the bill in the following situations:

• Bill has been passed by one House and transmitted to the other House and it is rejected by the other House
• Both houses have finally disagreed as to the amendments to be made in the Bill
• More than 6 months elapse from the date of the reception of the Bill by the other House without the Bill being passed by it.
• Please note that if there is a deadlock between the two houses on a Constitution amendment Bill, there cannot be a joint sitting.

Some other important notes

• A bill pending in other house for more than 6 months is deemed to be rejected but does not mean that a bill gets lapsed.
• The bill which gets lapses due to dissolution of the Lok Sabha, gets Lapses and in such case no joint sitting is called.

Further course of action is as follows:

• In the joint sitting, the disputed provisions are either fully accepted or fully rejected.
• For this, a simple majority is required. This means that if more than half of the members of the both the houses present at floor at that time if accept the disputed provisions, the provisions are accepted fully or if reject, the provisions are rejected fully.

A bill that is passed by both the houses of the parliament goes to the speaker. The speaker signs it and now the bill is sent to the president of assent. This is the last stage of a bill. If the president gives assent to the bill, it becomes a Law. Once it is a law, it gets entered into the statue book and published in Gazette.

However, as we studied, the President may take the following more courses of actions:

• The president returns the bill to the house. If the president returns the bill, the whole procedure is opened again and it will take the same steps as mentioned above.
• The president withholds assent, this would mark the end of the bill.

The above mentioned procedure is for the ordinary bills. There are some important differences in procedure for money bills and financial bills.

Important Points

• While money bills can originate only in Lok Sabha, all other ordinary bills including constitution amendment bills can originate in either house of the parliament.
• A bill does not get lapsed on prorogation of the house. All the bills pending in Lok Sabha get lapsed when Lok Sabha is dissolved.
• If a bill has been passed by Lok Sabha and is pending in Rajya Sabha, it will lapse if Lok Sabha dissolves.
• Bill not passed by Lok Sabha but pending in Rajya Sabha does not lapse if Lok Sabha dissolves.
• A bill passed by Rajya Sabha and pending in Lok Sabha will lapse if Lok Sabha dissolves.
• A bill pending in other house for more than 6 months is deemed to be rejected but does not mean that a bill gets lapsed. Further, for Money bills, the Rajya Sabha has limited time to return with comments otherwise it would be deemed passed in both houses. Thus, Rajya Sabha can NOT reject the provisions of Money Bill or other finance bills.