by Landmark legislation clears both houses in 47 minutes, runs to 1,200 pages
Efficiency at Its Most Efficient
NEW DELHI — The Indian Parliament passed the National Digital and Economic Framework Consolidation Amendment and Regulatory Harmonisation Act on Tuesday in a joint session lasting 47 minutes, a record for legislation of its length, which is 1,200 pages, a volume that reading at average pace would require approximately 20 hours, meaning the bill was passed at a rate of speed that implies either extraordinary familiarity with its contents or an equally extraordinary comfort with mystery.
Law Minister Arjun Ordinance called the passage “a triumph of legislative efficiency.” Opposition member Mallikarjun Khargosphere said his party had requested three additional days to read the bill and been granted three additional minutes, during which time 340 pages were tabled as supplementary annexures.
What the Bill Contains
A review of the legislation by the PRS Legislative Research Institute found the bill amends 34 existing acts, introduces 7 new regulatory frameworks, grants rule-making authority to 12 ministries, and contains in Section 847(c) a subsection permitting the central government to “designate any digital infrastructure as strategic” under conditions defined in Schedule 14, which was not included in the tabled version and will be notified separately.
“Schedule 14 is load-bearing,” said constitutional lawyer Fali Nariman-Adjacent. “The bill grants power. Schedule 14 defines the limits of that power. Schedule 14 does not yet exist.” He said this in a tone that suggested it was not the first time a schedule had been notified after the fact and would not be the last.
Implementation Timeline
The Act comes into force on a date to be notified by the central government, a standard provision that in Indian legislative history has ranged from immediate to fourteen years, with a median of approximately three years and a standard deviation large enough to accommodate most of human experience. The PRS Legislative Research full analysis will be published within a week. Schedule 14 is expected sometime after that. Parliament is in recess. The bill is law. It is 1,200 pages long. Tuesday was 47 minutes.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com
