Legislative process
Also called: Law-making process, Legislative procedure, Law-making procedure · Topic: Parliamentary Procedure, Committees and Privileges · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 6 "The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive"; Class 11, Ch 5 "Legislature"
Meaning
The legislative process is the set of steps by which a bill (a draft law) becomes an Act. Each House goes through three "readings":
- First reading: the House allows the bill to be introduced, and it is published in the Gazette, the government's official journal.
- Second reading: the House first debates the bill's main ideas. It may then send the bill to a committee. Finally it votes on the bill clause by clause, with amendments.
- Third reading: the House votes to pass the bill. Only small wording changes are allowed at this stage.
After this, the second House goes through the same steps. Then the President gives assent (Art. 111) and the Act is published in the Gazette. Class 8 explains that the word "reading" comes from the days when clerks read bills aloud to MPs who could not read.
Example
The Right to Education bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2008. A committee studied it, and it became the RTE Act in 2009. In the 17th Lok Sabha, 58% of bills were passed within two weeks of being introduced (PRS).
Don't confuse with
- Delegated legislation: these are rules that the executive makes under an Act that already exists. They do not go through the three readings.