The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Finance Bill, 2017. The 92-page document includes 40 amendments to a number of Acts, proposed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present during Parliament proceedings on Wednesday.
As per the Bill, the Aadhaar card will be mandatory to file income-tax returns from July 1 to check tax evasion. The legislation also makes the unique ID compulsory to apply for a permanent account number. It has also lowered the cash transaction limit from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 2 lakh from April 1.
After Jaitley had proposed the amendments, a number of Opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress and Biju Janata Dal, had alleged that the Centre was trying to bypass the Rajya Sabha – where it is in minority – by adding the changes as amendments to the Finance Bill instead of introducing separate Bills.
The Bill will now be sent to the Rajya Sabha. It includes amendments to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, Companies Act, Employees Provident Fund Act, Information Technology Act, Smuggling and Foreign Exchange Act.
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