Income Tax Bill 'Not Absolutely New', To Feature Changes Suggested By Parl Panel: Kiren Rijiju

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday said that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will introduce the new Income Tax Bill, as cleared by a Select Committee, in the Lok Sabha on Monday. Rijiju's statement came in the wake of doubts circulating on social media over the withdrawal of the Income Tax Bill from the Lok Sabha on Friday.

'It is being presumed that there will be an absolutely new bill, ignoring the earlier bill for which a lot of work was done,' Rijiju said. He clarified there should be no apprehension that the new Income Tax Bill, which is going to be introduced on Monday, will be different. 'It will be the same bill incorporating all the amendments accepted by the government,' Rijiju said.

The minister said that the apprehensions were ill founded as the new bill to be introduced will incorporate all the changes which have been suggested by the Select Committee and accepted by the government. Rijiju said the need for a new bill arose as it would have been a tedious process to introduce each of the amendments and seek approval of the House separately.

Rijiju said it was a normal parliamentary procedure when the amendments to a bill already introduced in the Lok Sabha are too many. The Select Committee of the Lok Sabha, chaired by BJP member Baijayant Panda, made 285 suggestions to the Income Tax Bill, which were accepted by the government.

'It is a normal convention that when a Select Committee submits a report and there are a number of amendments which are suggested and accepted by the government, the earlier bill is withdrawn and a new bill with all the amendments as accepted is introduced, so that it becomes easier for the Parliament to consider and pass the bill,' Rijiju said.

Stating that all the hard work done in the last six months will not go waste, the minister said, 'On the contrary, the hard work done by each one and the suggestions will get reflected in the new Income Tax Bill, which the finance minister will introduce in the Lok Sabha on Monday.