Parliament Diary

The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was introduced in Lok Sabha. The Bill amends the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 to unify the North, South and East Delhi municipal corporations. The introduction of the Bill was opposed by several members on account of being outside the legislative competence of Parliament. They argued that local government is a state subject and thus, the Delhi Assembly has the jurisdiction to legislate on the matter. The Minister of State for Home Affairs assured the House that Article 239AA of the Constitution allows the Parliament to make laws with respect to any matter for a Union Territory. The Bill was then introduced. 

Private Member Business was set aside for today to allow time for discussion on the Finance Bill, 2022. The Finance Minister moved several amendments to the Bill before it passed. These include the following:

• In the Bill, Section 115 BBH deals with income tax on crypto assets. Clause (2) (b) prevents loss on trading of crypto assets from being set off against income under "any other provision” of the Act. The proposed amendment drops "other" which may imply that loss from crypto assets cannot be set off against gains in crypto assets as well.
• Section 135AA of the Bill criminalises publishing import/export data. The proposed amendment limits the offence to cases where a specific importer/exporter is identified based on information furnished to customs.

During the question hour in Lok Sabha, the Law Minister was asked whether the government intends to make it compulsory for eligible voters to cast their vote. The Law Minister replied that the government has no plans of doing so. Other Members of the House then asked supplementary questions and encouraged the government to develop a mechanism for Indians abroad to vote as well, and to deliberate on why richer constituencies lag behind poorer constituencies in voter turnout.  

In Rajya Sabha, a private resolution on establishing Research Foundations at the State and district levels to revive the Indian knowledge tradition was discussed.