2019 Review: The 10 most significant bills passed in 2019
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 1, 2020
A total of 59 bills were introduced in Parliament in the year 2019. Some of them were significant as well as controversial. Here is a roundup of the 10 most important bills passed in 2019.
Narendra Modi took oath as the Prime Minister of India for a second term on 30 May 2019, following the massive victory of BJP and allies in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Hence, the 16, as well as the 17 Lok Sabha (Modi’s 1 & 2 term) , were both in session during 2019. The year 2019 witnessed the passing of many important and highly debated bills in parliament. Some of these bills led to controversies and are now challenged in the Supreme Court.
How
many Parliament Sessions were convened in 2019?
While the Winter
Session of 2018 (16 Lok Sabha)concluded on 09 January 2019, the interim
Budget Session of the 16 LS lasted for a fortnight between 31 January 2019 and 13 February 2019. The first
session of the 17 LS commencedon 17 June 2019 and continued till 07 August 2019. The Winter
Session of 2019  which began on 18 November 2019 came to an endon 13 December 2019.
A total of 59 Bills were introduced in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in 2019 as per the data available on thewebsite of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (MPA). A snapshot of theparliamentary work undertaken in 2019 is also available on the MPA website.
Factly takes a look at ten of the most significantbills passed in 2019. The acts have been listed out in the order in which theywere introduced.
1. The Muslim Women (Protection
of Rights on Marriage) Bill  (Triple
Talaq)
The Bill was introduced in June 2019 replacing an earlier ordinance. The act deems the practice of ‘triple talaq’ or ‘talaq-e-biddat’, in any form- oral, written or electronic void and illegal. ‘Talaq’ is a term pronounced by Muslim husbands thrice to divorce their wives. Following the passage of the bill, the declaration of ‘talaq’ has been made a cognisable offence (arrest without warrant) which can result in imprisonment of up to three years in addition to a penalty. The offence is cognisable only if the complaint has been registered by the woman or her relatives. The wife will be the custodian of the children and is also entitled to get a subsistence allowance from her husband for herself and their children. The act can be accessed here.
2. The new Consumer
Protection Bill, 2019
On08 July 2019, the new Consumer Protection Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha. Passed in August, the Actreplaced the erstwhile Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
The 2019 act has introduced a new Central Consumer Protection Authority ‘to promote, protect and enforce the rights of the consumers.’ Product Liability is another important concept introduced in the Act that mandates the service provider to compensate the consumer for loss or injury due to a manufacturing defect in the product or poor service.
Provisions on e-commerce have also been included in the new act. All laws pertaining to direct selling are applicable for e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, etc. Product Liability, in this case, would include sellers as well as the e-commerce aggregators. Misleading advertisements can lead to an imprisonment of two years and a fine up to Rs 10 Lakhs. Even the endorser of misleading advertisements can face a ban of one year. Consumer litigation has been simplified through the enactment of this act since it permits electronic filing of complaints and the complainant to attend hearing through video conference. Here is the link to Factly’s explainer on the new law. Also, watch our ‘Decode’ episode on Consumer Rights here. Also, watch the ‘Decode’ episode on the process for filing a complaint with the consumer forum.
3. The National
Investigation Agency (Amendment) Bill
TheNational Investigation Agency (NIA) was set up by the government through theenactment of the National
Investigation Act, 2008 to investigatespecific cases under certain laws. The NIA amendment bill passed in July thisyear allows NIA to investigate terrorist activities against Indians and Indianinterests outside the country as well. As per the 2008 Act, only activitieswhich are deemed crimes under the acts mentioned in the schedule could beprobed by NIA.
Theamendment has added multiple sections of Indian Penal Code and other acts tothe schedule, thus expanding the scope of crimes that could be investigated bythe NIA. The NIA can now investigate offences pertaining to human trafficking,counterfeit currency, cyber terrorism and those under Arms
Act and Explosive
Substances Act, 1908. The gazettenotification of the amendment can be found here.
4. The Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Amendment Bill
Introduced in the Lok Sabha on 08 July 2019, the objective of the bill was to amend the existing Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 . This bill led to heated debates in parliament. While the 1967 act included only terrorist organisations, the amendment empowers the government to designate an individual as a terrorist through official gazette notification by adding their name in the fourth schedule under the act. The individual may or may not be given a chance to be heard. The anti-terror law was criticised and challenged in the Supreme Court for the same.
Masood Azhar, wanted by India for multiple terror-related offences has been designated as a terrorist in September 2019 after the amendment.
Priorto amending the act, officers of therank of Deputy Superintendent or Assistant Commissioner of Police and abovewere only allowed to investigate cases, but now, NIA officers of the rank ofinspector and above are also empowered to carry out investigations under thisact. Prior approval from the Director General of Police of the State Police inwhich the property is situated was required to confiscate property related toterrorism. As per the amendment, for investigations being conducted by NIAofficers, they will require sanction only from the Director General of NIA,bypassing the DGP of State Police.
International Convention for Suppression of Actsof Nuclear Terrorism (2005) has also been added to second schedule of UAPA Act that lists the internationaltreaties which define terrorism and also adopted by India.
5. The Motor Vehicles
(Amendment) Bill
Alsopassed in the parliament in July 2019, the Motor Vehicles (Amendment)  Act has made the existing rules more stringentas compared to the Motor
Vehicle Act of 1988. The amendment has substantiallyenhanced the penalties and fines for various violations (double to ten timesthe hitherto) in an attempt to have a deterrence effect and in the processreduce the number of such traffic violations. Standards for vehicles, grants,permits and licenses related to motor vehicles have also been covered underthis amendment. Factly’s explainer on what owners/drivers of vehiclesshould know about the revised hefty fines under this act can be read
here.
6. The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill
The RTI
bill of 2019 amended the 2005
Act by vesting the power to determine officetenure, salaries and allowances of Information Commissioners in the centralgovernment. Earlier, the Chief Information Commissioner and other Information Commissionersin the Central Information Commission (CIC) had a fixed tenure of five yearsand their salaries were benchmarked with that of Chief Election Commissionerand Election Commissioners respectively. The amendment was brought in by theCentre claiming that functions of Election Commission and that of InformationCommission are different and hence the amendment was necessary.
This amendment was severely criticized both outside and inside the parliament for it was deemed to reduce the status of the commissioners and thereby the autonomy of the commission. The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 19 July 2019 and was notified in the gazette on 01 August. The rules were subsequently notified through which the tenure of information commissioners has been reduced to 3 years from 5 years.
7. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights)
Bill
Even though the bill was introduced in the LokSabha in July, it became an act only on 05 December 2019. The act defines a transgender person as someone whose gender doesnot match that assigned at birth. Further, the act bans any sort ofdiscrimination against them in education, healthcare, employment and residence.However, they have to obtain a certificate from the District Magistrate statingtheir gender as transgender. Gender should also be changed in all officialdocuments. It also calls for establishing a National Council for Transgender persons (NCT) headed by UnionMinister for Social Justice which will have to monitor policies policyformulation and legislation related to transgender persons. Pride march andprotests were held against the act as it lacks clarity in many aspects and alsointroduces bureaucratic procedures for identifying oneself as a transgender. Theprotestors say that the act goes against the directions of the Supreme Court inthe landmark
2014 judgment.
8. The National Medical Commission Bill
Nationwide protests by the medical fraternity were witnessed in July this year following the enactment of the National Medical Commission Act that annulled the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. National Medical Commission is to be set up under the Act superseding Medical Council of India to regulate medical education and profession in the country. NEET and NEXT were introduced as common entrance exams for admissions into under-graduation and post-graduation respectively. The act has also decided to give a limited license to ‘Community Health Providers’ to practice medicine. However, the criteria and regulations are yet to be framed. The act was opposed for being ‘draconian’ and ‘poorly drafted’. Details of the exams were also not disclosed then. A detailed explainer of the bill by Factly is available here.
The Indian Medical
Council (Amendment) Bill was also passed by the government earlier in 2019which provided for supersession of Medical Council of India Act in two years from September 2018 and alsoincreased the number of members from 7 to 12.
9. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill
On 31 October 2019, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act came into effect despite strong opposition, that reorganised state of Jammu and Kashmir as Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature, and Union Territory of Ladakh without a legislature. The President appointed a Lieutenant Governor each to administer the UTs. Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution which granted special status to the state were abrogated. Now, all the laws and provisions applicable elsewhere in India are also applicable to these two new UTs. State-specific laws were also repealed including a prohibition on leasing land to non-permanent citizens of Jammu and Kashmir. Internet shutdown and vehement protests were witnessed in the erstwhile state.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment)
Bill was also passed by the government which provided 3%reservation in services and educational institutions to people who live nearthe international border in J&K and to those living close to the Line ofControl.
10. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill
This bill makes the persecuted religious minorities- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians- from three neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India before 2015 irrespective of possession of valid documents, eligible to apply for citizenship. They will be deemed, legal migrants. The amendment also allows persons from the specified countries and specified religions gain citizenship faster than others by naturalization since the 11-year period is reduced to 5-years. On the other hand, Muslims from these three countries can still apply for citizenship by naturalization provided they have valid documents, have not been declared an illegal migrant and have satisfied the 11-year criteria for naturalization.
It was passed in the parliament and became an act on 12 December 2019. The passage of the bill in the parliament resulted in vociferous protests across the country for varied reasons such as the exclusion of Muslims, cultural erosion and economic reasons. Linking this act with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) also led to apprehensions that certain communities may be excluded. Factly’s explainer of the Act is available here. Answers to FAQs on CAA and NRC have also been published by Factly earlier.
What are the other
important laws & amendments passed in 2019?
The Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill  waspassed  limiting the special security toformer prime ministers and their immediate family members to five years fromthe end of their tenure. The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill increased the maximum number of SC judges from30 to 33.
A complete ban on e-cigarettes was broughtthrough the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (Production,
Manufacture, Import, Export, Sale, Distribution, Storage and Advertisement)
Bill while the Arms (Amendment) Bill reduced the number of licensed firearms allowedper person and enhanced fines for offences under the act.