Winter Session 2021: Zero public consultation on 60% of the bills to be introduced

The government has listed 29 bills for passing during the Winter Session of the parliament starting November 29. Of this, 60 per cent did not go through any public consultation. Seventeen of the 29 bills saw no public scrutiny and feedback before being listed for introduction in the parliament.

According to the legislative agenda disclosed in the Lok Sabha bulletin, some key financial and commercial sector bills are to be tabled this winter session. Many of them did not go through public scrutiny and feedback under the Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy 2014 including -- Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Second Amendment) Bill, 2021, Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2021, The Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2021, and The Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill.

The Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy 2014 mandates departments to publish proposed legislation in the public domain and solicit comments and inputs for a minimum period of 30 days.

Although the government shared 12 draft bills in the public domain for comments, six of the bills did not follow the rule of a thirty-day deadline.

Of the 29 bills, six were open for consultation for 30 days, while six had incomplete consultation (for less than 30 days).

According to researchers Arun P S and Sushmita Patel, more than 76 per cent of bills introduced between June 2014 and May 2019 had zero consultation. Between June 2019 and November 2021, 73 per cent of the bills were not publicly consulted.