Parliament Winter session concludes a day early, both houses adjourn sine die— A roundup of bills passed

According to Speaker Om Birla, the Lok Sabha recorded 74% productivity in the session, and the House held 14 sittings and worked for 61 hours and 50 minutes. He mentioned that 55 starred questions were answered orally during the Session. A total number of 265 matters were taken up under Rule 377.

The department-related Standing Committees of the Lok Sabha presented 35 reports. 33 statements were made under Direction 73A and a total number of 34 statements, including three statements given by the minister of parliamentary affairs in connection with parliamentary business, were made. As many as 1,930 papers were laid on the Table of the House, the speaker informed.

While, the overall productivity of the Upper House stood at 79%, according to the Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. The house worked for 65 hours during the 14 sittings and addressed over 2,300 questions from the treasury and opposition benches. During this period, over 4,300 papers were laid on the table.

In addition, during the session, 100 MPs, including three on Thursday, were suspended from the Lower House and 46 MPs were suspended from the Rajya Sabha for unruly behaviour and misconduct.

The three bills -- the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bills, passed in Parliament are set to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860; the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 respectively.

The Lok Sabha passed the bills on Wednesday, December 20, and on Thursday, December 21, the Rajya Sabha also approved the bills by voice vote.

The Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, 2023 passed in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, December 21, by voice vote aims to replace the existing Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867, making the registration of periodicals a one-step process as against the eight-step process in the archaic law.

The bill, already passed by the Rajya Sabha on August 3, eliminates two provisions requiring declarations before the district magistrate and removes penal provisions for improper declarations. It introduces an appellate authority and shifts the process of checking title availability online, reducing registration time.

The new bill seeks to decriminalise six provisions of the previous law barring one that pertains to a six-month jail term for publishing newspapers or periodicals without registration with the government. The newspapers and periodicals will now be able to get registered within two months as against the two-three years required earlier. In cases of publishing a newspaper without registration the provision of jail term comes into force if the publisher fails to comply with the direction of the Press Registrar to stop publication within six months.

The Bill empowers the Press Registrar General to impose penalties of up to Rs 5 lakh for publishing periodicals without registration and up to Rs 20,000 for first penalty for failing to furnish annual statement within the specified time.

The Telecommunication Bill, 2023, passed in Parliament aims to reform the country's century-old telecom law to make the sector investor-friendly, prioritises user protection but also extends powers to the government to intercept communications. The bill, which was cleared by Lok Sabha on Wednesday, was approved by Rajya Sabha through a voice vote on Thursday. Now, the bill will go to the President for assent, after which it will become the law of the land.

It seeks to supersede the existing and archaic regulatory framework for the telecommunication sector, based on the Indian Telegraph Act, of 1885, the Wireless Telegraphy Act (1933), and the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act (1950).

Under this legislation, central government authorization is mandated for the establishment and operation of telecommunications networks, provision of services, and possession of radio equipment.

While the bill excludes from its ambit broadcasting, and over-the-top services such as WhatsApp and Telegram, it cements rules for spectrum allocation and provides for a non-auction route for giving airwaves for satellite-based communication services. The structural reforms are also set to streamline what has so far been a complex licensing system in the telecom sector and usher in a simple authorisation mechanism. Currently, there are over 100 types of licenses.

The bill addresses interception of telecommunications for reasons such as national security, public order, or crime prevention, allowing for service suspension under similar grounds.

The Post Office Bill, 2023, was passed in Lok Sabha on Monday, December 18, after its clearance in Rajya Sabha on December 4. The bill seeks to repeal the 125-year-old Indian Post Office Act and consolidate and amend the law relating to post offices in the country.

According to the proposed legislation, "the central government may, by notification, empower any officer to intercept, open or detain any item in the interest of the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, emergency or public safety, or upon the occurrence of any contravention of any of the provisions of any law for the time being in force".

The present Bill has removed Section 4 of the old Act, which allowed the Centre the exclusive privilege of conveying by post. This exclusivity was anyway lost by the 1980s with the rise of private courier services.

The Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha during the Monsoon session of Parliament. According to the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill, the enactment of a new law in place of the Indian Post Office Act, 1898, is with a view to govern the functioning of post offices in the country and provide for a simple legislative framework to facilitate the evolution of post offices into a network for delivery of citizen-centric services.

The Bill seeks to empower the director general of postal services to frame regulations with respect to activities necessary to provide those services and fix the charges for such services.

The Upper house also passed the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2023, which was cleared by Lok Sabha on July 27 this year. The bill proposes to repeal outdated laws like the Land Acquisition (Mines) Act, 1885 and the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1950. The bill also seeks to repeal certain Appropriation Acts passed by Parliament in the recent past.

The lower house passed two bills—the Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill, 2023. The Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2023, seeks to cap the age for the president and members of the GST appellate tribunals (GSTAT) at 70 years and 67 years, respectively, higher than 67 years and 65 years specified earlier.

The Bill also aligns the provisions of the Central GST Act in line with the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021. As per the bill, an advocate with 10 years of 'substantial experience' in litigation in matters relating to indirect taxes in the Appellate Tribunal would be eligible to be appointed as a judicial member of the GSTAT.

Besides, the houses passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2023, which provides for reservation of one-third of the total number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory (Jammu and Kashmir) for women.

Similarly, the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was also passed in the houses, which reserves one-third of all elected seats in the Puducherry assembly for women.