___

SYNOPSIS OF DEBATES (Proceedings other than Questions & Answers) ______

Saturday, September 19, 2020 / Bhadrapada 28, 1942 (Saka) ______

THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY, HEALTH AND WORKING

CONDITIONS CODE, 2019

AND

THE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS CODE, 2019

AND

THE CODE ON SOCIAL SECURITY, 2019

THE MINISTER OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND

EMPLOYMENT(SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR) moved that leave be granted to withdraw a Bill to consolidate and amend the laws regulating the occupational safety, health and working conditions of the persons employed in an establishment and the matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

And

"that leave be granted to withdraw a Bill to consolidate and amend the laws relating to Trade Unions, conditions of employment in industrial establishment or undertaking, investigation and settlement of industrial disputes and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto."

And

"that leave be granted to withdraw a Bill to amend and consolidate the laws relating to social security of the employees and the matters connected therewith or incidental thereto."

SHRI N. K. PREMACHANDRAN opposing the Bills, said: My objection to withdrawal of the Bills is purely on technical grounds. The matter has already been referred to the Departmentally Related Standing Committee on Labour. The

Committee has already submitted the Reports. The Government is withdrawing the Bills on which the Committee has already submitted its Reports. At that time, there was no Departmentally Related Standing Committee. Without referring the matter to the Standing Committee, how can the Bill be withdrawn? After the presentation of the Reports in the House, these Bills are being withdrawn.

Definitely, the opinion of the Standing Committee has to be taken before withdrawing the Bills. Now, the Government is going to introduce new Bills.

Why the Chairperson and the Committee have not been consulted before withdrawing the Bills? That should be respected. I would like to urge upon the hon. Speaker to provide hard copies of the Bills. How will we be able to have a reading of the Bill online? These three Bills are very important Bills as far as the labour community in the country is concerned. SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR replying said: Hon. Member is talking about technical issues and I have no objection. I want to say that in the

Bills were introduced in the year 2019 and were referred to the Parliamentary

Standing Committee on Labour after introduction. The Committee have made discussion on all the three Bills in detail. The Standing Committee has made recommendations in the interest of labourers which we have accepted. They have made 233 recommendations of which 174 recommendations have been accepted.

Thus, a number of changes have been made in the original Bill after introduction.

Therefore, new Bills are being introduced in place of old ones. We are going to change 29 labour laws into 4 Codes. This House had passed the first Code unanimously.

The Bills were withdrawn.

______

THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY, HEALTH AND WORKING

CONDITIONS CODE, 2020

THE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS CODE, 2020

THE CODE ON SOCIAL SECURITY, 2020

THE MINISTER OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND

EMPLOYMENT (SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR) moved that leave be granted to introduce a Bill to consolidate and amend the laws regulating the occupational safety, health and working conditions of the persons employed in an establishment and the matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

And

"That leave be granted to introduce a Bill to consolidate and amend the laws relating to Trade Unions, conditions of employment in industrial establishment or undertaking, investigation and settlement of industrial disputes and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto."

And

"That leave be granted to introduce a Bill to amend and consolidate the laws relating to social security of the employees and the matters connected therewith or incidental thereto."

I wish to inform the House that the Government was working for drafting these four labour codes through a process of wide consultation. Under this process, the Government consulted the trade unions, employers associations, State

Government, experts, international labour organization and the common people.

These labour codes were drafted keeping in view the suggestions received from them. Subsequently, the Bill was referred to the Parliamentary Standing

Committee. The Government has incorporated 74 per cent of the suggestions given by the Committee and now these labour codes have been presented before the House. SHRI MANISH TEWARI opposing the introduction of the Bill, said: The hon. Minister has correctly submitted that the Standing Committee has considered all these legislation extensively. The stakeholders, the labour unions, the unorganised sector should have been, once again, re-consulted with regard to the substance of the Bill since the Bill has undergone a substantive transformation after going through the Standing Committee process. My second objection is that the Government has not followed the pre-legislative consultative policy which mandates that every Bill must be put in the public domain, for at least 30 days. My third objection is that the Code on Social Security is discriminatory. My fourth objection is that too much has been left to delegated legislation in the Bill. My final objection is that there are definitional nightmares in the Bill.

DR. SHASHI THAROOR: The Occupational Safety, Health and Working

Conditions Code fails to specify explicit provisions to safeguard the overall interest of the unorganized sector workers with a special emphasis on safety and health aspects as prescribed by ILO. Secondly, the Code fails to incorporate an exclusive chapter on Inter-State migrant workers as prescribed by the Standing Committee.

Thirdly, the Code permits the Central Government to reinvent rules in an arbitrary manner by failing to define some key terms. Fourthly, the Code gives sole discretion to the Central Government to decide the quantum of wages. The Code fails to include effective provisions for women welfare. Finally, the Minister has not circulated the copies of the Bill two days before introduction. The same is the position with all the three Bills. The Industrial Relations code violates the constitutional principle of separation of powers. The Code severely restricts the right of workers to strike. The Code on Social Security violates the fundamental right to equality under Article 14. The Code fails to provide maternity benefits for women workers in the unorganised sector. It also violates the principle of separation of powers by assigning a legislative function to the executive. I would urge the Minister to consider the Standing Committee's recommendations and bring the Bill back to the House.

SHRI KALYAN BANERJEE: You can definitely create a new convention of speaking on the merits of the Bill at the time of its introduction. Ultimately we get less time at the time of discussion on the Bill.

ADV. A. M. ARIFF: The main point is that all the meetings of the

Standing Committee have been held during the COVID period. Many Members of the Committee could not attend these meetings. So, I request the Minister to send all the three Bills to the same Standing Committee for a wide discussion.

SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR clarifying, said: I have already informed the House that the Government has undertaken a wide consultative process for drafting these Codes. I would like to request the Members to kindly allow me to introduce them and the Government will definitely consider the suggestions which are received during the consideration of the Bill.

The Bills were introduced. ______

SUBMISSION BY MEMBER

Re: Migrant labour from not getting Central assistance during

lockdown.

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND MINISTER OF CORPORATE

AFFAIRS (SHRIMATI NIRMALA SITHARAMAN) responding to the issue raised by an hon. Member, said: When the migrant workers returned to their respective States, the hon. Prime Minister announced the Prime Minister Garib

Kalyan Rozgaar Scheme in 116 districts of the country. Only those districts were selected under this scheme where more than 25,000 migrant workers had arrived by May 13. The district mentioned by the hon. Member would have been selected under this scheme if 25,000 migrant workers had reached there. But the

Government did not receive any information from the State Government of West

Bengal in this regard.

______

*MATTERS UNDER RULE 377

(1) SHRI K. MURALEEDHARAN laid a statement regarding collapse

of a under construction bridge at Thalassery, Kerala.

(2) SHRI VE. VAITHILINGAM laid a statement regarding need to

extend Medical, Manpower, Management and Financial Assistance to

UT of Puducherry to combat Covid Pandemic.

(3) SHRI T. N. PRATHAPAN laid a statement regarding recent

legislations in Agriculture Sector.

(4) SHRI GAUTHAM SIGAMANI PON laid a statement regarding

need to reconsider the construction of a new 8 track road from Salem

to Chennai.

(5) DR. BEESETTI VENKATA SATYAVATHI laid a statement

regarding according administrative sanction to provide amenities and

infrastructure to handicraft workers.

(6) SHRI HEMANT PATIL laid a statement regarding grant of

reservation to Maratha community.

______

* Laid on the Table as directed by the Chair. STATUTORY RESOLUTION

Disapproval of the Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions)

Ordinance, 2020 (Ordinance No. 2 of 2020)

And

THE TAXATION AND OTHER LAWS (RELAXATION AND

AMENDMENT OF CERTAIN PROVISIONS) BILL, 2020

SHRI N.K. PREMACHANDRAN moved that this House disapproves of the Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020

(Ordinance No.2 of 2020) promulgated by the President on 31 March, 2020.

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND MINISTER OF CORPORATE

AFFAIRS (SHRIMATI NIRMALA SITHARAMAN) moved that the Bill to provide for relaxation and amendment of provisions of certain Acts and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, be taken into consideration.

SHRI N. K. PREMACHANDRAN initiating said: I cannot understand the logic to have a separate fund namely PM-CARES Fund when we have a similar fund which is Prime Minister National Relief Fund. Further, I would like to seek clarification from the hon. Minister as to why the Government is evading the

C&AG audit.

My submission is that donation to Central Government shall not be counted as a mandatory CSR contribution since they have already been exempted under Income

Tax. Another point is that the PM-CARES Fund lacks transparency and is not audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General of . Even Right to

Information Act is also not applicable. Many representations have been filed seeking information as to the total amount collected so far and the amount distributed so far. The answer people are getting is that the Right to Information

Act is not applicable to this fund. That is quite unfortunate because immediately after the commencement of the PM-CARES Fund, the PM-CARES Fund coming into a controversy in itself is not a good signal as far as the fund is concerned. In terms of GST Clause 2 of Section 168A provides retrospective effect to the notification. Kerala State alone, 7,000 crores of rupees are due as GST compensation. But a new provision is incorporated, thereby, GST compensation can be taken away with the permission of the GST Council with retrospective effect for which also I have strong objection.

SHRI SUBHASH CHANDRA BAHERIA: At the outset, I would like to congratulate the hon. Minister of Finance that tax refunds amounting to

Rs.1,06,000 crore have been made to the taxpayers in the pandemic circumstances during the period from 1 April, 2020 to 15 September, 2020. The Government wants to increase the number of taxpayers, give all facilities to the taxpayers, ensure that honest taxpayer is respected and the taxpayer is not harassed unnecessarily. The MSMEs are under the focus of the Government and the exemption relating to tax audit has been increased from one crore rupee to five crore rupee to the MSMEs. The dividend distribution tax has been withdrawn. The private companies have been given 22 per cent tax liability under the assessment. A new set of rules have been framed this year for those who do not pay their taxes honestly. If an Indian citizen as a resident makes some earning in a country where no taxes are charged then he has been made the resident of India under the income tax. The last date under the Viswas Yojana has been extended from 30 June to 31 December, 2020. A decision was taken in the 14th March GST

Council Meeting that no interest will be charged on the GST payable which is debited via ITC. Its notification was issued later but the taxpayers falling in between the period are in a dilemma, therefore, a clarification should be issued.

There are certain rules under the CGST which are crossing the CGST laws which ought to be corrected. A provision has been made in the Bill that empowers the

Government to constitute a taxpayers charter. The taxpayers charter mandates that the taxpayer should be treated with dignity and respect. Ordinary citizens should be trusted and if an ordinary citizen submits something then it should be relied upon. Earlier, this was not the situation and the system believed that the taxpayer just cannot be honest. Earlier, the taxpayer used to think that it would have been better had he not paid the tax because in that case he would not have faced the harassment. Now, it has been provided under the taxpayer charter that he can lodge the complaint. Faceless assessment has been introduced.

SHRI B. MANICKAM TAGORE: I rise in Opposition to the Bill. The issue of contention is amendment to Section 86(g) of the Act. The Government takes money in the name of the hon. Prime Minister, it will have to tell the

Parliament about how and where the money has been spent. This fund is not meant for Defence purposes or for purposes of any classified national interest for which the Government can hide behind a ‘secrecy clause’. The Government is hiding its failure behind the excuse that it was a private Trust and so the

Government will not answer where the money was spent. The Trustees of this fund are the Ministers and the Parliamentarians. There will be conflict of interests of those Trustees who are performing Government roles in private Trusts. Any persons can make a donation to the PM CARE Fund and get income tax exemption and no questions will be asked. This is institutionalization of corruption where you take money in the name of public service and no agency or officer can ask any questions. Even C&AG is not allowed to audit the fund. The Government has appointed an independent auditor without any advertisement for an interview.

SHRI GAUTHAM SIGAMANI PON : By encouraging tax exemption to donate to PM-CARES, all companies will be interested in donation to PM-CARES

Fund rather than investing in localities and it will lead to unemployment of locals.

The Prime Minister Cares Fund is now clearly a private trust with the Prime

Minister and few Ministers as Trustees. I want to know whether the details of money collected will also be tabled before this House. Everything has been made online but the necessary infrastructure has not been put in place. TDS has been reduced from 10 to 7.5 per cent but the rate of tax itself has not been reduced to give some relief in these testing times.

SUSHRI MAHUA MOITRA: This Bill is deeply problematic because it further weakens the rights and resources available to the States by taking away the statutory promises made under the new GST regime and on the other hand, it corners public funds for PM CARES to the direct detriment of State Relief Funds.

PM CARES is steeped in non-transparency, and is discriminatory in nature. So unfair treatment of identical contributions to the PM CARES Fund and to the State

Relief Funds is against public interest and against public policy. It completely disincentivizes corporate contributions which the State Governments would otherwise have got. Almost 70 per cent of the Fund's Corpus comes from the 38

PSU donations.

SHRI SHRINIWAS DADASAHEB PATIL: GST compensation to the

States for the period from April to July, 2020 is yet to be paid. Over Rs. 2.18 lakh crore collected by the Central Government as cess for specific purposes such as education, sanitation, infrastructure have either not been transferred to dedicated funds or remain unutilised. Can the Government release this unutilised cess to the

States who are waiting for their GST compensation? More than Rs. 4.15 lakh crore is locked up in indirect tax related disputes at various courts. Measures need to be taken to resolve these disputes early and release the funds thus received to the

States. SHRI E. T. MOHAMMED BASHEER: With regard to donations to the

PM CARES, giving 100 per cent exemption to the donors is not at all acceptable because it may create room for misuse. Ease of doing business related laws should be encouraged, and that may be the need of the hour also. But, It should not be an escape route for the tax payers and the Government to use the public money according to their will and pleasure. I oppose the Bill.

SHRI GOPAL SHETTY: Foreign funds generally invest in the Indian securities market by locating their business in offshore locations due to availability of various income tax concessions. It is proposed to provide those concessions to these funds as available to them in the offshore locations. To bring accountability and transparency to the income tax assessment process 'Faceless Income Tax

Assessment' scheme has been launched. To increase the liquidity in the economy, it is proposed to reduce the rate of TDS on non-salary payments and the rate of

TCS to 7.5 per cent for the period from 14th May, 2020 to 31st March, 2021. In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the date for payment under the Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Act, 2020, is proposed to be extended to 31st December, 2020.

SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB: In order to provide more funds to the taxpayer, the rates of TDS and TCS have been proposed to be reduced by 25 per cent which shall remain in force in 2020-21. This measure will release a liquidity of around Rs. 50,000 crore. These policy initiatives are commendable as they are aimed at improving the liquidity in the economy. The delay in statutory compliances has also given breathing space to taxpayers.

PM-CARES is set up with the objective of being a dedicated National Fund to deal with any kind of emergency or distressed situation and I believe that this fund is not only created for Covid-19 situation but this fund will also be there to tackle different calamities which this country always faces. All the States are being benefited by this fund. CSR fund is being utilized and in an emergency situation like this, CSR fund needs to be utilized for this and I fully support this Bill.

SHRI ARVIND SAWANT: The Bill provides for amendments to the

Income Act, 1961 as well as various tax exemptions. Under this bill, a rebate under

Section 80G has also been provided for PM Cares Fund. We are all aware that

Maharashtra is the worst affected state by the corona epidemic. Our respected

Chief Minister is making endeavours to combat Corona under the able guidance of the Hon’ble Prime Minister. Therefore, the Government of Maharashtra's Covid-19

2020 Fund should also be provided exemption under Section 80. Similarly, in respect of MSMEs, it needs to be provided interest subvention.

SHRI LAVU SRIKRISHNA DEVARAYALU: With regard to this Bill, my first point is treat donations to CM Relief Funds as CSR activity as well. Right now the donations made to PM Cares fund has been made eligible for tax deductions under Section 80 of the Income Tax Act. It is because of these benefits, individuals and corporate are diverting donations from CM Relief Funds to PM CARES Fund. Additionally, give some sort of a provision for the MPs as well wherein the corporate can donate as part of CSR activity and get tax deduction under Section 80 of the Income Tax to the MP funds. This will help make up for the Rs.5 crores lost to the MPLADS that has been taken away. My second point is about rationalization of tax collection targets on officials. The tax collection targets should be reviewed and reduced because the economy is suffering.

Finally, an amount of Rs.581 crore is still pending from the Government of India.

I hope the Government will try to release it as soon as possible.

SHRI DILESHWAR KAMAT: As a result of the Covid-19 epidemic and the lockdown across the country, taxpayers have faced many challenges in fulfilling statutory and regulatory compliances in all sectors. The Ordinance was promulgated by the Government to reduce the burden of taxpayers. Under this, amendments were made to certain Acts, Financial Acts, Central Excise Act,

Customs Act and Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act. Also, the date of passing of orders or issuing notices by authorities under various direct taxes and Benami law has been extended. The dates of various types of payments have also been extended. The ordinance amended the provisions of the Income Tax Act to give equal status to the PM's Cares Fund as the Prime Minister's Relief Fund. I thank the Government for announcing the extension of the time limit for depositing income tax, compliance with GST, linking PAN to Aadhaar and meeting other statutory provisions in view of the crisis of Corona infection among the masses.

Finally, on behalf of my party, I support this welfare Bill.

MRS. SANGEETA AZAD: I would like to request the Government to increase the income tax limit slab to Rs.10 lakh. The Government will get a revenue of lakhs of crores of rupees by introducing the Vivad Se Vishwas scheme,

2020 to settle the cases relating to direct taxes. This will also strengthen the economy. I request the Government to do away with the provisions relating to penalty on TDS and interest amount or the provision of imprisonment on the lines of Vivad Se Vishwas scheme. I would also like to request that the Government should provide details of the money deposited in the PM CARES fund.

SHRI NAMA NAGESHWAR RAO: I would like to thank the Government for providing tax exemptions during the Covid epidemic. I would once again urge that the Government should consider the GST payments of the States. The state of

Telangana owes a total of Nine thousand crore rupees. At the same time, people should also be given interest-free loan moratorium. Similarly, like PM Cares, there should be provision for CM cares also.

ADV. A. M. ARIFF: The provisions of this Bill truly reflect the need of the hour. But newspaper reports suggest that hunger deaths are still happening across India, as several deserving families are out of the PDS system without a ration card. If the proposal of my party for directly crediting Rs.7,500 for all households outside the Income Tax bracket for six months had partially been accepted, poor people of this country would have got at least one full mill a day. I request the Government to heed this genuine demand at least now. The

Government had announced a moratorium on the loans taken from the banks. But this Government betrayed the people of this country by refusing to waive the interest on loans even after the Hon. Supreme Court emphasizing with the loanees.

With regard to PM CARES Fund, no one knows the complete composition of the

Trust. No one knows how much money has come as contribution till date. This

Trust is an embodiment of opaqueness and high-handedness of this Government.

I request the Government that necessary changes may be brought in to include contributions to the Chief Ministers’ Distress Relief Funds also eligible as expenditure under Corporate Social Responsibility.

SHRI RAM MOHAN NAIDU KINJARAPU: I wish to make a few observations on some of the provisions of the Bill and wish to make a few suggestions. There is no doubt that the Government of India has taken some measures, but the main demand of the real estate sector is to give industry or infrastructure status. Secondly, GST is not giving them input tax credit. As a result of this the burden is falling on the home buyers. So, I would like to ask will the Government restore input tax credit and given industry or infrastructure status to the real estate sector? PM CARES Fund must be subjected to C & AG audit. In view of Covid Pandemic the Central Government should allocate more funds to the states by way of GST revenue. SHRI P. RAVEENDRANATH KUMAR: I place my complete reliance in the utilisation of PM CARES Fund in the benefit of the citizens of the country.

Further, I would like to request the Government to make CM Public Relief Fund eligible for receiving donations which are eligible for CSR funds on the lines of

PM CARES Fund. Besides, Government deserves appreciation for containing the spread of Covid-19 through massive RT-PCR testing which involves nearly Rs. 4 crore per day in performing 80 thousand tests. Obviously, the expenditure involved is too high for the state of Tamil Nadu to bear on its own.

Therefore, I request that 50 per cent of the cost may be covered under the PM-

CARES Fund. I support this Bill.

SHRIMATI NAVNEET RAVI RANA: I demand that taxes should be levied only on the sale of cotton and imposition of RCM should be removed. This apart, late fee charged from the composition dealers with turnover of less than one and a half crore should be reduced to Rs. 500 and the exemption from GST available to big and small businessmen till june, 2020 may be extended for one more year. I must acknowledge that PM CARES Fund has gone a long way in providing medical facilities to the Covid patients of Maharashtra in time. I support this Bill.

SHRI THOMAS CHAZHIKADAN: I oppose this Bill. In the first place,

PM- CARES Fund was not required as the Prime Minister National Relief Fund was already in place to take care of any force majeure. It must be brought under the purview of RTI Act and be subjected to audit by C&AG. I further request the hon.

Minister to amend the relevant provision of the Income Tax Act by allowing

PF/ESI employees' contribution as a deduction if the same was paid before the due date for filing income tax returns. I would like to place on record that the state of

Kerala has not so far received any substantial help either from PM-CARES Fund or from the Central Government during the Covid-19 pandemic.

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS

(SHRI ANURAG SINGH THAKUR) replying said: I would like to clear the doubts expressed by various members about PMCARES Fund. PM CARES Trust has been constituted with a primary objective to set up a dedicated corpus to provide relief to the people in these global pandemic times. The Trust has been registered under the Registration Act of 1908 and Hon. Prime Minister, Defence

Minister, Finance Minister and Home Minister are ex-officio members of this

Trust by virtue of their post and not in individual capacity. Whosoever occupies this post will become the member of this Trust. Decisions regarding funds allocation will be taken by constituting a committee. This is not the first Trust which has been given tax deductions. Prior to PM Cares Trust, there are so many registered Trusts which have got exemptions under the rules of FCRA, then why such a ruckus over this trust. We have been given proper permission to receive foreign contributions under FCRA. I would like to mention that there is no budgetary support for PM CARES Fund and not a single rupee is being taken from consolidated fund of India. People of the country have contributed their hard earned money in this fund. No single rupee of this fund will be misused. It is a public charitable trust, hence doesn’t need CAG audit. I would also like to mention that the Prime Minster National Relief Fund was registered after 25 years and got PAN Card after 64 years. But in PM CARES Fund, we have completed all such procedures and have not flouted any rule. This is the credibility of our

Prime Minister Modi ji that five times more fund has been collected under PM

CARES FUND as compared to PM National Relief Fund. Public fund and government machinery was used to serve one family so far. Funds from PM Relief

Fund were diverted to Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. Actually we cannot compare an act which has been accomplished by Modi ji to fight a global pandemic of Covid-

19 with PM National Relief Fund which received various exemptions. I would like to assure the House that PM CARES FUND will always function in a transparent manner.

SHRI ADHIR RANJAN CHOWDURY: I would like to know the need for creating a parallel fund when PM National Relief Fund already exists. I would also like to know whether many China based companies have also donated funds in

PM CARES FUND. The Government should clarify whether our Prime Minister has any link with these donations. PM CARES Fund appears to have been created to conceal the donations of private persons and corporates. It is not under the purview of CAG. If there is transparency then why it is out of CAG’s ambit. If our

UPA Government has fear of anything, we would not have introduced RTI Act.

Another point is that now CSR Fund is eligible for donation to PM CARES Fund, however, it was a considered decision that CSR should not be used to fund government schemes. I would also like to point out that PM CARES Fund has received exemptions from all provisions of the law meant to regulate foreign donations. It is a non-transparent fund. We are raising various questions because

RTI applications seeking information about donation and donor have been rejected.

The scheme “Vivad Sey Vishwas” has failed to reap fruitful results.

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND MINISTER OF CORPORATE

AFFAIRS (SHRIMATI NIRMALA SITHARAMAN): I would like to thank all the Members who have participated in the discussion held on the Taxation and

Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Bill. Members have spoken on the various aspects of the Bill. It would have been difficult for people of file Tax return, GST return due to lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic therefore, there was a need to bring an Ordinance to make changes in the earlier fixed dates and now that Ordinance was also required to be replaced with this Bill. Most of the amendments were made at that time in Clause 2 and Clause 3 so that people do not have to pay penalty. Earlier there used to be a provision of prosecution on non payment of penalty. This Ordinance was required to stop that prosecution. I would like to say that since the Pandemic situation is not over yet, we would like to extend the date for ‘Vivad Se Vishwas’ Scheme upto 31st

December through this law. Date deferrals are also being done in direct taxes and indirect taxes. The dates for customs, service tax and excise tax are also being extended upto 30 September. This provision is not going to make any difference to the compensation payment. Clause-7 of the amendment in this Bill deals with the

CGST Act. We are bringing three-four steps in this Bill with regard to investment also. Hon’ble Prime Minister has made the tax procedure faceless with the use of technology so that the need for direct contact does not remain any longer. The officers of Revenue Service are working very hard while putting their lives into danger. Due to certain misunderstandings the entire Revenue Service is being projected negatively. There is an utmost need for tax transparency in this country.

The TDS and TCS collection rate is also being reduced by 25 percent. PM CARES

Fund is registered whereas PM National Relief Fund is not registered. The objective of the PM CARES Fund is to deal with any kind of emergency or distress situation like the one posed by COVID-19. Whereas under the PM National Relief

Fund, the Fund is to be utilized for medical assistance, floods, droughts, terrorist violence, etc. Both these funds are being audited by SARC and Associates. As regard PM CARES Fund, RTI is not applicable, as it is not a public authority substantially funded by the Government. The status on RTI is similar on both of these Funds. Both these Funds received 100 percent deduction under Section 80 G.

The Resolution was withdrawn by leave of the House

And

The Bill was passed.

______

THE COMPANIES (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2020

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND MINISTER OF CORPORATE

AFFAIRS (SHRIMATI NIRMALA SITHARAMAN) moved that the Bill further to amend the Companies Act, 2013, be taken into consideration.

SHRI MANISH TEWARI initiating said: This Bill has been brought to make the functioning of companies easier. The GDP growth rate had been declining for several quarters before COVID-19 pandemic. The growth rate of the economy in the first quarter of this financial year has declined to minus 23.9 percent after COVID-19 pandemic. The poor people of the country have suffered most due to COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of taking care of them, this Government is again providing concessions to corporates. It shows that common people are not the priority of this Government, but it only takes care of the ease-of-living of the capitalists. The Companies Act was first enacted in the year 1913 and was retrospectively enacted with effect from April 1, 1911. After that, repealing the Act of 1913, a new law was enacted in 1956. From 1956 to 2013, that law was amended 25 times and in 2013 a new Companies Act was enacted by this Parliament. A new government was formed in the year 2014 and 150 amendments have been made in this Act from 2014 to 2020. Today, again this Amendment Bill has been brought before this Parliament and justification for bringing this

Amendment Bill is being given that a Company Law Committee was formed in

September 2018 and within two months the said Committee had given its recommendations and now this Amendment Bill is brought before this House to amend the Act 2013 which was enacted on the basis of recommendations of various Committees constituted from 1991 to 2013 and Standing Committee. Now, the Company Amendment Bill provides for decriminalization of certain offences in case of default which can be determined objectively and which otherwise lack any element of fraud or do not involve larger public interest. The question arises as to what are those principles which are going to be applied in order to carry out that determination that this offence is a private interest offence and another offence is a public interest offence. A new Chapter 21 (A) has been added to this Amendment

Bill, which relates to the producer company. This entire provision with regard to producer companies when read in juxtaposition with the earlier Bills which pertain to contract framing as well as alternate trading mechanisms, and to provide platforms for trading outside the APMC areas and when all of this is taken together, this is nothing but a backdoor to facilitate the entry of big corporate into the agricultural sector which is going to militate against the interest of the small and marginal farmers. This Bill provides that CSR commitments of a company can be rolled over for a period of three years. It is extremely difficult to get companies to implement their Corporate Social Responsibility, and to give this kind of flexibility in the Corporate social Responsibility regime even before the law of the land has completely settled down is completely erroneous. The companies are being allowed to abdicate their corporate social responsibility.

NBFCs and Housing Finance Companies are being given a lot of relief in the

Amendment Bill. In the past 6 years this Government has created a climate of fear which has completely derailed economic activities in the country. Now, the wheels of the economy have stopped turning, they are introducing a kind of

Laissez Faire in the economy whereby it will a free for all the corporates to do what they like without any regulatory oversight of the Government.

SHRIMATI APARAJITA SARANGI: With this Companies

(Amendment) Bill, 2020, the Central Government has proved that it is not only responsive to the changing requirements of the business community in the country, but also it is capable of taking timely and effective decision in this time of crisis.

This amendment will result in ease of doing honest business and ease of doing ethical business. There were operational issues in this Bill and that is why, amendments are being brought in today. The Government constituted the Company

Law Committee on 18th September, 2019. This particular Committee has been constituted to actually decriminalise penal provisions of Companies Act, 2013.

This is the basic aim of this amendment. The Union Cabinet considered and approved the proposal to introduce the Companies Amendment Bill on 4th March,

2020. There has been considerable deliberation, thinking through and stakeholder consultations before the amendments have been brought today before the House.

First, it empowers the Central Government to exclude certain companies from the definition of listed companies. In addition to public companies, certain private companies too, are permitted to list debt securities on a recognised stock exchange.

By virtue of being a listed company, the private companies too are required to comply with stringent regulations, and the compliance requirements mentioned in the Act. These stringent compliance requirements disincentivize the companies from seeking listing of their debt securities. This Amendment Bill chooses to exclude or delist certain class of companies from the status of listed companies, and to delist it in consultation with SEBI. The disincentivizing provisions of the

Act applicable to other listed companies under the Act can be made inapplicable to such private listed companies. It also proposes enabling of listing in foreign jurisdiction. The Bill empowers the Central Government to allow certain classes of public companies to list permitted securities in stock exchanges and permissible foreign jurisdiction. The most important proposal is the decriminalization of offences. This Amendment Bill proposes to allow the company to pay the penalty, rectify their faults, and become compliant with the law through IAM Framework.

This will promote ease of doing business, this will boost the confidence of investors. The next thing is the Corporate Social Responsibility. The Bill permits a company which spends in excess of the mandated two per cent to carry forward the excess spending towards their obligation for the next year. This is beneficial in case of CSR initiatives which require higher amount of capital as this allows the company to invest in CSR initiatives. Along with this introduction of a new

Chapter on Producer Companies will benefit the independent directors. Besides, benches of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) will also be set up in order to ease the burden and reduce the pendency of cases.

PROF. SOUGATA RAY : We are meeting in difficult times when the economy has gone into a tailspin. Fiscal deficit has touched seven per cent of GDP.

This Bill has made some important changes in which they have decriminalised more than half of the existing compoundable offences under the Companies Law.

It has also lowered the monetary penalties for violation by Start-ups amid efforts to further improve the ease of doing business in the country. Besides, a new Chapter on ‘Producer Companies’ has been introduced, and it seeks to decriminalise minor, procedural and technical defaults, which do not involve fraud or injury to the public interest. This will reduce the burden on the NCLT as NCLT is already burdened with the cases under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). Lastly, under the Bill, companies having CSR obligations of less than Rs. 50 lakh will not be required to form a CSR Committee. The Bill also proposes to lower the monetary penalties for violation by Start-ups. The future of economy in the country will not depend on companies. They need a law. So, Parliament has given them a law.

SHRI SRIDHAR KOTAGIRI: The Company (Amendment) Bill is bringing reforms to minimise penalties for the act of omission without an intent to cheat. I would recommend a more lenient approach to smaller companies, which are in large number in our country, I support the Companies (Amendment) Bill,

2020. Our State is facing economic crisis due to misdeeds and the reckless fiscal policy practised by the previous Government. The previous Government towards the end of their term, borrowed and spent over Rs. 30,000 crore for electoral gains, and left a total amount of Rs. 60,000 crore as unpaid bills and spent Rs. 800 crore to build a temporary structure of Secretariat for 175 State Legislators. This is a total fiscal indiscipline and it went totally unchecked. Now our Government spent just about Rs. 200 crore to bring back to life 1,100 ambulances, the famous 108 and 104. The then Ruling Party made a grand plan to built the so-called Capital city of Amaravati. They had distributed 4000 acres of land amongst their friends, family, kith and kin. We are trying to impress upon the Central Government to kindly hold a CBI inquiry into it. My Government has built village secretariats, agricultural support centres, health centres in every village and appointed three lakh volunteers. There are Rs. 15, 000 crore due to Andhra Pradesh under various heads. I request for its payment as soon as possible. SHRI ARVIND SAWANT: The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2020 seeks to substitute section 446B of the Act to provide for payment of lesser monetary penalty by a Start-Up Company, Producer Company, One Person Company or a small company on failure to comply with the provisions of the Act which attract monetary penalties. The issues of some companies are pending for years.

Common people invested their money in Pancard Company and SEBI could not give them justice till date. By this amendment, justice to the investors cannot be done. Based on the recommendations of the CLC and internal review by the

Government, it is proposed to amend various provisions of the Act to decriminalise minor procedural or technical lapses. But who will decide it whether it is minor or not, Adjudicating Committee will look after these issues. The Bill empowers the

Central Government to exclude certain class of companies from the definition of

"listed company" for debt securities. How are you going to protect the investors.

What are the criteria for it? The Bill also provides to clarify the jurisdiction of trial court on the basis of place of commission of offence under section 452 of the Act for wrongful withholding of property of a company by its officer or employees, as the case may be. Whether the Government is going to decriminalise such persons.

Charging of higher additional fees for default on two or more occasions in submitting, filing, registering or recording of such document, fact or information, as may be prescribed, in Section 403. That 'more occasions' should be specific otherwise how that will be controlled? SHRI MALOOK NAGAR: I welcome the amendments made in the

Company (Amendment) Bill, 2020 to provide relaxation to traders and corporate sector. Congress party felt that it enacted good legislation and now the Government considers that it has improved it by bringing these amendments. But I would like to say that a Ministry should be set up to create coordination among various

Ministries. The unemployed persons will get employment, country will prosper and economy will be strengthened if all the Ministries have good coordination among themselves.

SHRI B. B. PATIL : The changes proposed by the Companies Amendment

Bill, 2020 have the potential of conferring long term benefits on stakeholders and investors. In addition, decriminalization of offences under the Act is likely to yield intangible benefits in the form of protection of goodwill of a company that could otherwise get tarnished by criminal sanctions being imposed by minor technical or inadvertent lapses. However, the legislators should not lose sight of the fact that decriminalization of certain offences under the Act could turn into a toothless tiger.

Another concern is if the decriminalization proposed by CAB, 2020 will have the effect of encouraging an unbridled corporate culture of purging defaults by merely expending funds, then it is defeating the legislative intent with which the CAB,

2020 was introduced. It is peculiar that CAB, 2020 has been proposed less than a year after CAA, 2019 was notified. Both these legislations are propelled by similar objectives and they seek to amend overlapping matters. I also request the hon. Finance Minister to release the outstanding dues from the power distribution companies to renewable energy producers of State, release Rs.5,420 crore towards GST compensation and another Rs.2,700 crore towards IGST dues to the Telangana State. While the Fourteenth Finance Commission recommended unconditional basic grant of Rs. 2711 crore, the amount released by the Centre was

Rs. 2,502 crore. The State was denied Rs. 650.20 crore of the statutory grant to urban local bodies. Thus, I request you to arrange the immediate release of all pending dues under the Finance Commission.

SHRI GAURAV GOGOI : The main objective of the Bill is to discriminalise various compoundable offences. Today, we are witnessing increase in gradual privatisastion and even airports are also being privatized in the country.

Recently, a Bill pertaining to farmers has been passed wherein emphasis has been given on contract farming and which will benefit corporate India. I would like to ask the Government about the facilities being provided to corporate India. Today, their criminal offences have become civil offences, tax rate has been reduced and provided labour Court as sought by them. The land of farmers is being acquired by various state governments under Land Acquisition Bill. The criminal offenders are still out of the country. The corporate India is resorting to retrenchment of the employees in the name of COVID-19. Therefore, I would like the Government to ensure corporate India creates jobs, creates private investment and practices clean business. SHRI P. RAVEENDRANATH KUMAR : I support the Companies

(Amendment) Bill, 2020 as it is a huge reform for trade and commerce. I represent the State of Tamil Nadu whose economy is the third largest in the country and is bound to get a boost and become a preferred destination for business and investment. In pursuance of insertion of a new Section 418A in this Bill, Union

Government will establish a new bench of National Company Law Appellate

Tribunal in Tamil Nadu at Chennai. I also welcome the timely introduction of

Companies Fresh Start Scheme by the Union Government through a separate notification dated 30th March, 2020 to benefit the corporates during the unprecedented situation created due to spread of COVID-19.

SHRI DILESHWAR KAMAIT: This Companies Act was introduced in the year 2013 to strengthen the rules related to the company on time and amendments can be made in due course as per the requirement. Strong changes such as accountability, protection of investors and corporate governance can be easily resolved without a criminal court case. The Government has constituted the

Company Law Committee in the year 2019 to decriminalize the provision of the

Companies Act, 2013 on the basis of its gravity and to provide a better ease of living for corporators in the country. This committee has made 62 recommendations. The committee also came up with suggestions on how to overcome criminality in some cases, which would be helpful in large public interest and which do not include fraud. The committee suggested a change in this

96th provision on the aspect of decriminalization. I support the bill.

SHRI N. K. PREMACHANDRAN : It is quite unfortunate to note that subsequent to 2013, if we examine, every year during the last six years, not less than six amendments have taken place to the Companies Act of 2013. That is not a good, healthy legislative process because piecemeal amendments to the original

Act, and consecutive and consistent amendments to the Act, will be creating so many problems which have to be avoided. Regarding the contents of the Bill, it is being done absolutely in the name of ease of doing business. The legislation relating to farming –everything is oriented towards the corporate houses and the business houses in the country. It is not good. The decriminalisation of provisions is being done. It has already been stated that 75 changes are taking place and 64 sections are being amended by this Amendment Bill. So many criminal punishments leading to imprisonment are being taken away and the fine is becoming very less. So, stringent measures have to be taken to see that all the offences are being dealt with in a serious way. Not only in my State, but in four

South Indian States, the big and popular finance companies have been defrauding and cheating thousands and thousands of poor people. In this regard, the State

Government has requested for a CBI inquiry. So, I urge upon the Government of

India to order a CBI inquiry into the popular finance scams which are affecting depositors and customers of four South Indian States. KUNWAR DANISH ALI: Several criminal offenses are being decriminalized through this Company (Amendment) Bill. Recently during Corona lockdown, an incident of gas leak occurred at night in Teva API Limited Company in Gajraula in my Constituency Amroha. The District Fire Officer reached at accident site, but he did not allowed to enter the company premises for twenty minutes. These companies have been given wide powers and rights that they are not even ready to follow law and the officers of the State Government or Central

Government try to protect them. I appeal to the Hon. Finance Minister that the provisions of the Companies Act should be enforced strictly and companies like

API should not be allowed to ignore Government Officers at the time of accidents like gas leaks at night.

SHRIMATI NIRMALA SITHARAMAN replying said: Not only big companies but MSMEs and small companies are also registered under Companies

Act. Small companies will also get benefits of the provisions of decriminalization being made through this Amendment Bill. Effort is being made to decriminalize small offences. When this Act was enacted in 2013, there were 134 sections which contain penal provisions now their number will be reduced. No provision has been made to decriminalized serious and non-compoundable offences, offences related to fraud, deceit and injury to public interest. The number of non-compoundable offences in the Act of 2013 was 35 and that number remains unchanged in this

Amendment Bill. Through this Amendment Bill, 48 such sections are being amended which will facilitate decriminalization. 17 amendments are related to ease of living. A new chapter is being added in the Companies Act, which will be beneficial for the producers' organizations. Incentives are being given to Farmers

Producers Organizations and provisions of seed capital, funds and direct market access is being made for them. This Government has set a target to form 10 thousand Farmers Producers Organizations. They all will also get the benefits of this provision.

The Bill was passed.

SNEHLATA SHRIVASTAVA

Secretary General

© 2020 BY LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NOTE: It is the verbatim Debate of the Lok Sabha and not the Synopsis that should be considered authoritative.

English and Hindi versions of Synopses of Lok Sabha Debates are also available at http://loksabha.nic.in.