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A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices S A Bobde and B R Gava issued notice to the Centre on an appeal filed by Congress MP Jairam Ramesh who has challenged the Delhi High Court’s order dismissing his plea challenging the amendments made to the law on money laundering through money bills since 2015.
The amendments to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) were made through ordinary bills till 2013, but Senior Advocate P. Chidambaram appearing for Jairam Ramesh, told the bench that from 2015 to 2018 the amendments were made by passing money bills which was in violation of the Constitution.
A money bill refers to a bill which can only be introduced in the Lower House of the Parliament or the Lok Sabha. The Upper House or the Rajya Sabha cannot amend or reject it but only make recommendations which may or may not be accepted by the Lok Sabha.
Jairam Ramesh was also named one of the petitioners who had challenged the passing of Aadhar Act as a money bill as was highlighted by Chidambaram. One of the judges of the constitution bench reviewing the bill held that the decision of the Lok Sabha speaker to qualify Aadhar bill as a money bill is open to judicial review whereas another judge had said that Aadhar could not be passed as a money bill. The Apex court had however upheld the passage of Aadhar Act as a money bill and on 26th Sep 2018 had held Aadhar to be constitutionally valid.
The Delhi HC rejected the plea on the basis of Ramesh not being able to justify the delay in filing of the petition. The Congress MP had said that he had come to know about the amendments being through money bills only recently. In his petition in the HC, Jairam Ramesh said that passing the amendments through money bills was “grossly illegal and expressly ultra vires the Constitution of India”. He also said that it bypassed the authority of the Upper House and was “a desecration of bicameralism which forms an invaluable part of the basic structure of the Constitution.”
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