| Aadhar Act as Money Bill In 2021, the Supreme Court, in a majority verdict, refused to review its 2018 judgment upholding the validity of the Aadhaar Act and its certification as a Money Bill. Justice Chandrachud gave a dissenting opinion in the 2021 Review case. The majority disagreed with him. |
- The Chief Justice of India agreed to list petitions challenging the use of the Money Bill route by the Centre to pass contentious amendments in Parliament.
- In November 2019, a five-judge Bench headed by the Chief Justice referred the Money Bill question to a seven-judge Bench in the case of Rojer Mathew vs. South Indian Bank Ltd.
- The core issue is whether such amendments could be passed as a Money Bill, bypassing the Rajya Sabha, in violation of Article 110 of the Constitution.
- A Money Bill is a financial legislation that contains provisions exclusively related to revenue, taxation, government expenditure and borrowing.
- A Money Bill is restricted to provisions dealing with financial matters under clauses (a) to (g) of Article 110(1), including the appropriation of money from the Consolidated Fund of India and taxation.
- The reference includes legal questions about amendments made from 2015 onwards in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) through Money Bills, which granted the Enforcement Directorate extensive powers of arrest and raids.
- Although the court upheld the legality of the PMLA amendments, it left the question of their passage as Money Bills to the seven-judge Bench.
- The case also questions the passage of the Finance Act of 2017 as a Money Bill, which altered appointments to 19 key judicial tribunals.
Dig Deeper: Read about the Supreme Court verdict in the Justice K. S. Puttaswamy (Rtd) verdict.
