Legislative Procedure in India: The procedure for passing the bills in the Parliament is explained in articles 107 to 122. According to that, each bill has to pass through 5 phases including 3 readings in the Houses.
a) First Reading: This is the presentation of the bill. After getting the permission of the House, a member presents the bill with a statement.
If the bill faces opposition, the one who presented the bill and the one objecting it is given opportunity to explain their stands. If the majority votes in favor of the Bill, it is published in the Government Gazette. If the bill is not very controversial, there is a precedent that there is no discussion in the first reading.
b) Second Reading: This is the 2nd phase. At this stage, all the important points of the bill are discussed. The presenter will ask the House to consider it urgently. Or he may request the bill to be sent to a Select Committee or a Joint Committee of both the Houses for consideration. He may also ask the bill to be circulated forgetting public opinion. Normally the bill is sent to a Select Committee.
c) The Committee Stage: This is the 3rd stage. The members to this Committee are appointed by the House. The Committee Chairman decides the time, date and venue of the meeting. The Select Committee will have members from the Opposition. The Members study the bill clause by clause and prepares a report to be presented in the House.
d) Report Stage: This is the 4th stage. The presenter asks the House to discuss the bill on the day it is scheduled for discussion. The Report may be unanimous or with differences in opinion. In the light of the Report, the House discusses each condition in the bill. This discussion may take quite some time. Each item in the bill is discussed extensively and then it is put to vote. During this time serious changes may happen in the bill and therefore this is the most crucial stage.
e) Third Reading: This is the last stage. On the appointed day the bill is presented in the House for final approval. No serious change is brought at this stage. Changes may be orally presented and quickly resolved. At the end of the discussion, the bill is put to vote. If the bill receives favourable vote from the majority of members present and voting, the bill is deemed to have passed. Then the bill is sent to the second House.
