Legislative procedure

1. Constitutional framework and categories of Bills

Parliament consists of the President, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha under Article 79. The Houses deliberate and vote, while presidential assent completes the enactment process. Parliament must also possess legislative competence: Articles 245–246 and the Seventh Schedule distribute law-making authority, while Article 246A creates a special framework for GST. Proper procedure alone cannot save legislation that violates fundamental rights or constitutional limitations.

Articles 107–111 govern the introduction and passage of Bills, joint sittings, Money Bills and assent. Articles 112–117 govern financial business, including appropriation and special provisions for Financial Bills. Article 118 authorises each House to make procedural rules. Article 368 supplies a separate procedure for constitutional amendments.

Bills may be government Bills, introduced by ministers, or private members’ Bills, introduced by members who are not ministers. This classification concerns the sponsor, not constitutional status: a private member can introduce an ordinary Bill or a Constitution Amendment Bill, subject to applicable requirements. Once enacted, a private member’s law has the same legal force as a government-sponsored law.

Most legislation passes through readings in both Houses. However, the Money Bill procedure deliberately gives Lok Sabha primacy because it is directly elected. Financial Bills that do not qualify as Money Bills generally preserve Rajya Sabha’s power to amend or reject them.

• Article 100: ordinary decisions normally require a majority of members present and voting.
• The quorum is one-tenth of the total membership of the House; the presiding officer has a casting vote in a tie.
• Article 122 protects parliamentary proceedings from challenge merely on grounds of procedural irregularity; it does not create blanket immunity for unconstitutional action.

2. Ordinary Bills: readings and committee scrutiny

The first reading ordinarily involves seeking leave to introduce the Bill and its introduction. Publication in the Gazette makes its text available. A Bill may also be published before introduction with the presiding officer’s permission; in that situation, leave to introduce is not required. Introduction is not equivalent to approval of the Bill’s substantive provisions.

The second reading is the principal scrutiny stage. It includes general discussion and detailed consideration, including clause-by-clause examination and amendments. The House may take the Bill into consideration, refer it to a select committee or a joint committee, or circulate it for eliciting public opinion. Bills may also be referred to a Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee. Referral of every Bill to a committee is not constitutionally mandatory.

Committees can obtain expert evidence, consult stakeholders and identify drafting or implementation difficulties. Their reports are recommendatory rather than binding. After consideration and voting on clauses and amendments, the third reading focuses on whether the Bill should be passed in its final form.

The other House follows its own consideration procedure. An ordinary Bill requires agreement by both Houses on the same text, unless the joint-sitting mechanism resolves a qualifying deadlock. If one House makes amendments, the other must agree to them. Passage in one House alone does not normally make an ordinary Bill ready for assent.

• Prior presidential recommendation is unnecessary for most ordinary Bills, but specific constitutional exceptions exist.
• For example, an Article 3 Bill concerning state boundaries or formation requires presidential recommendation and reference to the affected state legislature for its views.
• A state legislature’s views under Article 3 are not binding on Parliament.

3. Money Bills and Financial Bills

Article 110 defines a Money Bill narrowly: it must contain only provisions dealing with the listed subjects, such as Union taxation, government borrowing, custody of the Consolidated Fund or Contingency Fund of India, appropriation, charged expenditure, public accounts and matters incidental to these subjects. A Bill is not a Money Bill merely because it imposes fines, demands fees for services or concerns taxation by a local authority.

The Speaker decides whether a Bill is a Money Bill and endorses the required certificate. Article 110(3) describes that decision as final. Nevertheless, the scope of judicial review of certification has been litigated; it is unsafe to treat certification as absolutely beyond constitutional scrutiny. In Rojer Mathew v. South Indian Bank Ltd. (2019), the Supreme Court referred important questions concerning the interpretation of Article 110 to a larger bench.

A Money Bill is introduced only in Lok Sabha on the President’s recommendation. After passage, Rajya Sabha may recommend changes within 14 days. Lok Sabha may accept or reject any recommendation. If Rajya Sabha does not return it within that period, it is deemed passed by both Houses in the form passed by Lok Sabha.

A Financial Bill under Article 117(1), commonly called Category I, combines Article 110(1)(a)–(f) matters with other provisions. It requires presidential recommendation for introduction and can originate only in Lok Sabha, but Rajya Sabha has full legislative powers over it. A Financial Bill under Article 117(3), or Category II, involves expenditure from the Consolidated Fund without those Category I features. It may originate in either House; presidential recommendation is needed for its consideration before passage, not for introduction.

• Demands for grants are voted only by Lok Sabha under Article 113.
• An Appropriation Bill authorises withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund under Article 114.
• Charged expenditure is discussable but not submitted to vote; it is nevertheless included in the Appropriation Bill.

4. Deadlock, dissolution and presidential assent

Under Article 108, the President may notify an intention to summon a joint sitting when one House rejects a Bill passed by the other, the Houses finally disagree on amendments, or more than six months elapse without the receiving House passing it. Periods when that House is prorogued or adjourned for more than four consecutive days are excluded when calculating six months.

The Lok Sabha Speaker normally presides over a joint sitting. The decision is taken by a majority of members of both Houses present and voting. Lok Sabha’s numerical strength often gives it an advantage, but passage is not legally automatic. Money Bills and Constitution Amendment Bills cannot be resolved through this mechanism.

Article 107 distinguishes prorogation from dissolution. A Bill pending in Parliament does not lapse merely because the Houses are prorogued. On Lok Sabha’s dissolution, a Bill pending there lapses, as does one passed by Lok Sabha but pending in Rajya Sabha. A Bill pending in Rajya Sabha that Lok Sabha has not passed does not lapse. A notified joint sitting can proceed despite subsequent dissolution.

Under Article 111, the President may assent, withhold assent or return a non-Money Bill once for reconsideration. If Parliament passes the returned Bill again, with or without amendments, the President cannot withhold assent. The Constitution specifies no general time limit for deciding on a parliamentary Bill. A Bill passed by both Houses and awaiting assent does not lapse on dissolution.

• A Money Bill cannot be returned for reconsideration under Article 111.
• Assent and commencement are distinct: an Act may commence immediately, on a specified date or through a later government notification.
• An ordinance under Article 123 is not a substitute for permanently bypassing Parliament; it must satisfy constitutional conditions and parliamentary time limits.

5. Constitutional amendments and limits on law-making

An Article 368 amendment Bill may originate in either House and may be introduced by a minister or a private member. Prior presidential recommendation is not required. Each House must pass it separately by a majority of its total membership and at least two-thirds of members present and voting. There is no joint sitting if the Houses disagree.

Amendments affecting specified federal provisions additionally require ratification by the legislatures of at least half the states before presentation for assent. These include changes concerning presidential election, distribution of legislative powers, specified provisions concerning the higher judiciary, state representation in Parliament and Article 368 itself. State ratification uses an ordinary majority, not Parliament’s special majority.

The Twenty-fourth Amendment, 1971 made presidential assent obligatory for a duly passed Article 368 Bill. Nevertheless, amendment power is not unlimited: Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973) established that Parliament cannot destroy the Constitution’s basic structure. Certain constitutional changes, such as those consequential to state reorganisation under Articles 3–4, occur through ordinary legislation and are expressly excluded from Article 368.

• Prelims distinction: special majority is calculated separately in each House, not through pooled votes.
• State ratification applies only to specified federal changes, not every constitutional amendment.
• Examine a Bill’s contents and constitutional requirements rather than relying solely on its title.

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