Significant Bills

Passed in 2023

By Law ko Jaano
 1. New Criminal Laws
The Narendra Modi government had
introduced three new bills — the Bharatiya
Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, (BNS 2023), the
Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
(BNSS, 2023), and the Bharatiya Sakshya
Bill, 2023, (BSB, 2023) — during the
monsoon session of Parliament in August.
The bills sought to replace existing criminal
laws — the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860;
the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC),
1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872,
respectively.
While introducing the bills in Parliament,
Home Minister Amit Shah said the laws
these would repeal were made to
“safeguard and strengthen the British”,
asserting that the new ones would
“transform our criminal justice system”.
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After they were tabled, the bills were
referred to a 31-member Parliamentary
Standing Committee, headed by BJP
MP Brij Lal, for review. This panel
adopted its report on the bills on 7
November, with Opposition MPs
flagging several errors and
recommending more than 50 changes.
Eventually, the government withdrew
these and reintroduced new iterations,
which received Presidential assent on
25 December.
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2. Chief Election
Commissioner &
Other Election
Commissioners Bill
Also first tabled during Most importantly, it The Bill now takes the CJI
the monsoon session, the overturned a Supreme out of the equation.
controversial bill says Court order from March The judgment was
that the chief election this year, when a five- passed on a 2015 public
commissioner and other judge Constitution bench interest litigation
election commissioners modified the process for challenging the
will be appointed by the appointing members of constitutional validity of
President upon the the Election Commission the practice of
recommendation of a of India (ECI). The court appointing members of
selection committee held that a committee the ECI.
comprising the prime comprising the Prime
minister, a Union cabinet Minister, the Leader of
minister, and the Leader the Opposition, and the
of Opposition/leader of Chief Justice of India
the largest opposition would advise the
party in Lok Sabha. President on ECI
appointments.

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3. Women’s
Reservation Bill 2023

Introduced and passed at the

monsoon session with an
overwhelming majority, the bill
reserves a third of all seats for women
in Lok Sabha, state legislative
assemblies, and the Legislative
Assembly of the National Capital
Territory of Delhi. This also includes
seats reserved for SCs and STs in Lok
Sabha and state legislatures.

The reservation will be for 15 years

from the date of commencement of
the Act.
Provisions of the bill are unlikely to see
the light in the upcoming general
election because it will come into force
only after the delimitation exercise,
which will be based on a population
census that hasn’t been announced
yet.

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4. The Digital
Personal Data
Protection Bill, 2023
In August, the Digital Personal Data
Protection Bill, 2023, got Presidential
assent to become India’s first data
protection act. This came after years
of back and forth over what provisions
of such a law should contain.
The Digital Personal Data Protection
Act, 2023, applies to the processing of
digital personal data within India where
such data is collected online, or
collected offline and is digitised. It also
applies to the processing of digital
personal data outside India, if such
processing is in connection with any
activity related to the offering of goods
or services to data principals — that is,
the person to whom the data relates —
within India.
Among other things, the law exempts
government authorities from the
application of provisions of the Bill in
the interest of specified grounds such
as security of the state, public order,
and prevention of offences.
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In a first, the law also introduces duties
and penalties on the data principal. It
says that the data principal will have
the right to obtain information about
processing, seek correction and
erasure of personal data, nominate
another person to exercise rights in
the event of death or incapacity, and
grievance redressal. However, it also
adds that if the data principal registers
a false or frivolous complaint, or
furnishes any false information, they
can be punished with a penalty of Rs
10,000.
Similarly, the law also imposes certain
obligations on data fiduciaries —
defined by it as the people who
“determine the purpose and means of
the processing of personal data”. This
includes the obligation to ensure the
accuracy of data, keep data secure,
and delete data once its purpose has
been met.
Significantly, the bill does not provide
for the right to data portability and the
right to be forgotten.
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 5.
Telecommunications
Bill, 2023
The bill seeks to replace the Indian
Telegraph Act 1885, the Indian Wireless
Telegraphy Act 1933, and the Telegraph
Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act 1950.
Among other things, it requires the central
government’s authorisation to establish
and operate a telecommunication network,
provide telecommunications services, or
possess radio equipment.
Telecommunication has been defined as
the transmission, emission, or reception of
any message by wire, radio, optical, or
other electromagnetic systems. According
to the bill, message means any sign, signal,
writing, text, image, sound, video, data
stream, intelligence, or information sent
through telecommunication.
Therefore, telecommunication services
may cover under its ambit a wide range of
services, including internet-based services,
messaging, and calling through platforms
like WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram.
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The bill also talks about putting in
place a licencing regime for telecom
networks and says that auctions will
continue to be the preferred norm in
assigning spectrum to entities.
The bill also requires telecom service
providers to verify the identity of the
users through any verifiable biometric-
based identification.
In addition, the law also allows any
officer authorised by the central
government to search a premise or
vehicle, if they have reason to believe
that unauthorised telecommunications
equipment or network used to commit
an offence is kept or concealed.
It further allows interception,
monitoring, or blocking of messages or
class of messages between two or
more people on certain grounds
including the security of the state,
friendly relations with other countries,
prevention of incitement of offences,
or public order. It also allows the
suspension of telecom services,
including internet shutdowns, on
similar grounds.
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 6. The Post Office
Bill, 2023

The bill replaces the Indian Post Office

Act 1989, and regulates India Post.
Among other things, this bill also allows
interception of an article transmitted
through India Post on specified
grounds, including national security,
friendly relations with foreign states,
public order, emergency, public safety,
or contravention of the provisions of
the Bill or any other laws. The central
government can empower any officer
to do so.

The bill has also faced criticism for

being arbitrarily continuing provisions
of a colonial law. While participating in
a debate in Lok Sabha on 13 December,
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said over
the last decade, it has been seen that
this government has, in the guise of
“decolonising our minds” and
“updating colonial-era laws”, brought in
legislation that is equally, if not more,
“arbitrary and unreasonable and that
more often than not encroaches upon
the fundamental rights of countless
Indians”.

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 7. Government of
National Capital
Territory of Delhi
(Amendment) Bill,
2023 This included the The body was to
On the face of it, this comprise the elected
appears to be another authority to transfer and
post officers within the Chief Minister of Delhi,
law brought in to overturn and two high-ranking civil
a Supreme Court government, frame
service rules for them, or servants — the
judgment passed in May government’s chief
this year. undertake any other
measure for governance secretary and the
purposes, including principal secretary of the
On 11 May, a five-judge home department.
Constitution bench of the passing a law in the
legislative assembly. The Delhi government
Supreme Court challenged this ordinance
unanimously upheld the in the Supreme Court,
elected Delhi Just days after this ruling,
the central government and its petition was
government’s power over referred to a Constitution
administrative services in promulgated an
ordinance on the issue. bench on 20 July. That
the National Capital case is still pending.
Region. The ruling allowed This ordinance created a
new statutory authority, Meanwhile, the Modi
the Arvind Kejriwal-led government brought in
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) the National Capital Civil
Service Authority the Government of
government to exercise National Capital Territory
its executive as well as (NCCSA), to make
recommendations to the of Delhi (Amendment) Bill,
legislative authority over 2023, to replace its
officers of various Lieutenant Governor (LG)
on the transfers and ordinance. The proposed
services, including those law is to apply
who are not recruited by postings of officials and
disciplinary matters. retrospectively from 19
it and have been May — the date of the
allocated to Delhi by the ordinance.
Union of India.

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8.The J&K
Reorganisation
(Second
Amendment) Bill,
2023
IThe bill amends the Jammu and
Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019,
which bifurcated the erstwhile state of
Jammu and Kashmir into two union
territories of Jammu and Kashmir (with
legislature) and Ladakh (without
legislature). The bill now seeks to
reserve one-third of all elected seats
in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative
Assembly for women.

This reservation also will apply to seats

reserved for Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes.
However, like the women’s reservation
bill, the provision of this proposed
legislation too will come into force only
after an exercise of delimitation is
undertaken after a census exercise is
undertaken.

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9. The Forest
(Conservation)
Amendment Bill,
2023
Introduced and passed According to the law, The law also exempts from
during the Monsoon certain kinds of land have its ambit land recorded as
Session of Parliament, the been exempted from forest before 25 October
controversial bill, which clearance, including 1980 but not notified as a
forest and also those which
received presidential forest land that may be
changed from forest-use to
assent in August, amends diverted for “strategic
non-forest-use before 12
the Forest (Conservation) linear projects (such as December 1996.
Act, 1980, to make it roads or railways) of
applicable to certain national importance and This means that the law
types of land. It also concerning national redefines the term “forest”
exempts certain types of security within 100 km under the Indian law and
land from the ambit of from India’s borders”. constricts conservation
the law, including those efforts, and is in stark
that lie within 100 km of contrast to the earlier law,
which extended its
India’s borders.
protections for clearances
Critics of the law claim
to any forest land.
that the bill could lead to
removing forest land
“within a distance of one
hundred kilometers along
international borders or
Line of Control or Line of
Actual Control” from the
law’s protection.

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 10. The
Cinematograph
(Amendment) Bill,
2023
The original law provided The Cinematograph
Introduced in Parliament
for several types of (Amendment) Bill, 2023,
in July, the bill seeks to
certificates to be granted substitutes ‘UA’ category
amend the
to films. This included a with three more — UA 7+,
Cinematograph Act 1952,
‘U’ certification for UA 13+, and UA 16+. It also
which made provision for
exhibition without aims to curb film piracy
the certification of films
restriction, ‘UA’ by providing for a
and created the Board of
certification for exhibition punishment ranging
Film Certification for such
without restriction but between three months to
certification. This is the
subject to the guidance three years imprisonment
board that certifies
of parents or guardians for violating the
whether a film is suitable
for children below 12 provisions related to
for universal public
years of age, ‘A’ unauthorised recording
exhibition or should
certification, and ‘S’ or unauthorised
restricted to adults.
certificate for exhibition exhibition of films.
only to members of any While the original law
profession or class of makes the certification
persons. T valid for 10 years, the bill
says that the certificates
will now be perpetually
valid.

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