6 Oct 2023 6:36 AM GMT
Today, the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud orally remarked that he would soon be constituting a seven-judge bench to hear the constitutional issue regarding money bills. The remark was made when Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy, appearing before a bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra raised the issue and stated–
"This is about the money bills. The specific challenge is to the PMLA. A seven-judge bench was to be constituted."
The CJI responded to the same by stating that he was listing all pending seven-judge matters and nine-judge matters for directions next week. He added–
"I will then list these too."
Money Bill, as defined under Article 110 of the Indian Constitution, concerns financial matters like taxation, public expenditure, etc. The Rajya Sabha cannot amend or reject this bill. The money bill provision had courted controversy after the Government sought to introduce certain bills, such as the Aadhaar Bill, as money bill, seemingly to circumvent the Rajya Sabha, where the government was lacking majority. Even the amendments to the PMLA were introduced through the route of money bills. While the Supreme Court had upheld the constitutional validity of PMLA, it had kept one issue open, that is, could amendments to the PMLA, have been passed as a Money Bill. This question was to be considered by a seven judge bench.
It may be noted that a seven-judge bench is already considering the constitutional question of defining a Money Bill and the scope of the Supreme Court jurisdiction to review the Lok Sabha Speaker's decision to certify a bill as a Money Bill. The formation of the bench was due to the reference made by the constitution bench in Roger Mathew v. South Indian Bank on the interpretation of Article 110(1) of the Constitution of India. The correctness of the majority judgment in Aadhaar case on this point was also doubted by the Court. Thereafter in the PMLA case, the question was left open for the consideration of larger bench.