Draft bills in simple language to allow layman understand them: Parliament panel

Bills should be drafted in a language which helps a layman understand them and reasons for bringing the proposed legislation, a Parliamentary panel has recommended.

The department-related parliamentary standing committee on law and personnel also said that currently all the bills that are being drafted by the Legislative Department in the Union Law Ministry can be understood either by the intelligentsia of the country or the people having legal acumen or knowledge.

"For a layman to understand the bills which are presented to Parliament is very difficult. The Committee, therefore, would like to recommend that the bills should be drafted in such a simple language so that even a common man can also understand about the proposed objective and implications of the bill like the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 and Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022 recently brought by the government," the committee chaired by BJP's Sushil Kumar Modi said.

"The key mandate of the Legislative Department is to vet crucial government documents and help draft various ministries draft ordinances and bills so that they can hold good during parliamentary and judicial scrutiny.

The department is also the nodal agency to deal with issues related to the Election Commission, including appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners. It also deals with Representation of the People Act 1950 and 1951 and related electoral rules.

The Legislative Department has told the committee that between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022, it had forwarded 28 legislative bills to Parliament for introduction.

Out of the bills pending before Parliament and those introduced during the period, 23 have been enacted into Acts.

Also, during this period, six regulations under Article 240 have been promulgated by the President and 2,332 subordinate rules, regulations, orders and notifications have been scrutinised and vetted by the Department.

The committee's report on demands for grants of the Legislative Department were tabled in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament.