On December 22nd and 23rd, Loksabha and Rajyasabha passed what all of
us recognize as an amendment bill amending ITA 2000.

I have some doubts on the procedures followed in passing of the Bills
and experts in this group may kindly comment.

1. The Bills were passed without any debate though they were serious
legislations which even introduced offences for which life
imprisonment is prescribed. Those who saw on the TV the passage of the
Bills will remember that the noise levels were so high that it is
possible to presume that the members of parliament were not in a
position to understand the proceedings. With such "Absence of the
meeting of the minds", to what extent a legislation that introduces
fundamental changes in penal laws of the country is considered valid.

2. The Bill passed was named "Information Technology Amendment Bill
2008"(ITAB-2008) and the list of amendments passed referred to
"Information Technology Amendment Bill 2006" (ITAB-2006) first laid on
the tables of the Parliament on 15th December 2006.

One of the clauses amended in the ITAB 2006 is that the underlying Act
would be called ITA Amendment Act 2008. ie, the Bill ITA Amendment
Bill 2006 seeks to be enacted as ITA Amendment Act 2008 which would
have amended ITA 2000.

Now if the current Bill, ITA Amendment Bill 2008 passes the amendments
to ITAB 2006, does ITAB 2006 automatically pass into a law called ITA
Amendment Act 2008 (Consolidated) and give effect to all provisions in
ITAB 2006?

Does the text of resolutions put to vote and passed on Dec 22nd and
Dec 23 state clearly that what was being passed was not only the
amendments to ITA 2006 Bill but also the amendments to ITA 2000
envisaged in ITAB 2006?

Is it not feasible to consider that the amendments to ITAB 2006 should
first become a law with the assent of the President and then the
modified ITAA 2006 comes into consideration of the Parliament for
passage?

Would it not have been necessary for the Parliament to have considered
ITA amendment Bill 2006 for passage with corrections and not introduce
a new Bill by the name of ITA Amendment Bill 2008? or consider it as
two bills passed one after another?

Can the experts in the group clarify if there were earlier occasions
when a bill was passed to amend another bill pending before the
parliament and in such cases whether two separate resolutions were
passed first to pass the amendments and then to pass the pending Bill
itself?