BIRTH OF THE CONSTITUTION(101ST) AMENDMENT ACT

BIRTH OF THE CONSTITUTION(101^ST) AMENDMENT ACT

Ques: How does an Act comes into force?

To form an Act, there is a need to introduce the same as a Bill in the parliament

Ques: What are the Types of Bills which are introduced in the Parliament?

As we all know that for passing GST Bill, Constitution is required to be amended first so as to alter the powers of Center and States regarding levy of Tax.

But now the question is whether it is a Federal Bill or Non-Federal Bill.

The answer to above question lies here:

Ratification by the State Legislatures                                       (relevant extract)

A Constitution Amendment Bill which seeks to make any change in articles relating to:— a)......., or b) the extent of the executive power of the Union and the States, or c)......., or d) distribution of legislative powers between the Union and States, or representation of States in Parliament, or e)......, after it is passed by the Both Houses of Parliament by the special majority, has also to be ratified by Legislatures of not less than one-half of the States by resolutions to that effect passed by them before the Bill making provision for such an amendment is presented to the President for assent.

Thus it is clearly evident from above that it will be a Federal Bill

Ques: What are the stages in passing Constitution(101^st) Amendment Bill, 2016?

Note: The Constitutional Bill enabling GST introduced had numbering as 122nd BUT at the time of being passed as constitutional amendment it was passed as 101st Act. Is there any error in publishing!!!

No, please be assured, there is no error in publication of such an important piece of legislation which is going to redefine the tax structures & systems in India.

Reason for the same being that it is not necessary that every bill introduced is actually passed in sequence, hence there is a difference in the numbering of the Constitution Amendment Bill and Constitution Amendment Act.

The final number of a Bill is determined as per the date on which it is cleared by both Houses of Parliament and the same rule will apply in this case also. Since the GST Bill got delayed, it got renumbered as 101st Amendment at the time of passing and implies that at least 21 Constitution Amendment Bills are still pending before the Parliament.