The Lok Sabha will discuss the Finance Bill on Thursday after Opposition members in the Rajya Sabha passed the Bill with a proposal for five amendments to the legislation, ANI reported. Since it was tabled as a Money Bill by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the legislation does not need approval from the Upper House, where the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party happens to be in the minority.
The minister said the Finance Bill protects the source of information for tax evasion, while trying to quash speculation about the legislation, ANI reported.
Meanwhile, more than 200 eminent citizens, including jurist Fali S Nariman, economist Jayati Ghosh and musician TM Krishna, have opposed the classification of the Finance Bill, 2017, as a Money Bill, calling it an “illegitimate” move that undermines the Constitution.
Three of the amendments were moved by Congress’ Digvijaya Singh, while the Communist Party of India (Marxist) proposed the other two. The Lok Sabha has the power to overrule the amendments if the Bharatiya Janata Party has a majority.
On March 22, the Lok Sabha had passed the Bill making Aadhaar mandatory to file income tax returns from July 1 and to apply for a permanent account number. The 92-page document included 40 amendments to a number of Acts. The BJP government’s bill also seeks to remove caps for corporate funding to parties, allow them to make donations anonymously, and lower the limit for cash transaction.
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 by adding the changes as amendments to the Finance Bill, instead of introducing separate Bills for them.
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