How a bill becomes Act?

In India, the parliament passes the bill. The private person or ministers of the States introduce the bill in the Parliament. The constitution of India gives the various stages to pass the Bill. The Bill when passed from both the houses of the parliament and take the assent from the President of India, Bill becomes the “Act of Legislature” or “A Statute”.

There are three types of lists are given in the 7^th schedule of the Constitution of India where all the list have their subjects where the Central and States Government has rights to make the laws on that subjects.

How a bill becomes Act?

State List

The State government has the power to make the laws in the State.

Union list

In the union list, the central government makes the law for the whole country.

Concurrent list

In this list, either the Central Government or State Government can make the laws. In the case of collapse, the laws made by the Central Government will prevail.

There are four types of Bills

Constitutional Amendment Bill

These bills are passed to make the changes in the Constitution of India.

Money Bill

These bills are related to money. Like if the government was to take loans, related to tax, etc.

Finance Bill

The finance bill is a mixture of money bills and additional topics.

Ordinary Bill

All the topics which do not fall in any bill come under ordinary bills.

Stages of the ordinary bill to become an Act

There are various stages that have been made to pass a Bill:-

First Reading

The process starts with the introduction of the bill in either house of the Parliament (Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha).

A bill can be introduced either by the Minister or any private member of that house. When a Minister introduces the Bill, it is called a Government Bill and in the case of a Private member, it is known as Private Member’s Bill.

The member-in-charge of the Bill will ask for leave to introduce the bill in the House if the leave is granted, the bill is introduced. This is known as the first reading of the Bill. If the leave to introduce the bill is opposed, the speaker may allow the Member-in-charge and the member who opposed the bill to give an explanatory statement regarding their views on that bill.

Publication in Gazette

The bill will be published in the Official Gazettes after the introduction of the bill. A bill can also be published without introduction, with the permission of the Speaker. In such a case, the leave to introduce the bill in the house is not asked. The bill is straightway introduced.

Reference of the bill to the standing committee

After the publication of the Bill, the presiding officer of the house may refer the bill to the standing committee to make a report of Bill. The period to make the report is 3 months. The standing committee can also take the expert opinion or the public opinion upon that Bill.

Second Reading

In the second reading, the bill will be discussed clause-by-clause in the house. The changes will be made in the bill through discussions. If the bill needs some changes, the changes will be made in this process and the modifications will be made.

Third reading

This is the last stage of one house. To pass the bill, voting is necessary. There must be 2/3 voting in the favor of Bill to pass the Bill. If the bill is passed by a majority of 2/3 the bill will be sent to the other house and the same process will be followed by that house.

Now, if the second house makes any changes in that bill, the bill will come back to the first house again and have to pass on that changes with 2/3 majority again and will send back to the second house for consideration.

If both the houses pass the Bill, the bill will go to the President for his assent.

If the president gives his assent by signature, that bill will become an Act.

In other cases, if there is any conflict occurred between both the houses to pass the bill, the president can call both the houses for a joint session. In this, both the house tries to pass that bill by majority by solving the problems in the Bill.