House panel likely to assess impact of laws

NEW DELHI: An in-house panel may, for the first time, come out with a report on how to comprehensively assess the impact of a law before and after its roll-out. The Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances and Law has decided to come out with a report on ‘legislative impact assessment and way forward’, following Rajya Sabha chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu’s willingness to find out “qualitative dimensions” of Indian laws.

The s t udy will t ake i nto account how a particular law may affect society and also formulate a comprehensive way to study its economic, social and administrative impacts. While policymakers regularly seek feedbacks on bills and policies from different quarters, this would provide a structured view covering all aspects of a law by a multi-party panel.

“India is the world’s largest democracy in terms of quantum of participation and legislative output. But in terms of processes, broader stakeholder involvement, the rigor of drafting bills and legislative impact assessment (LIA), we need to cover more ground. There is a churning about LIA in many countries,” Naidu said.

Last month, an international conference on parliamentary practices in Seoul deliberated on LIA, in which senior Rajya Sabha officials made a presentation on LIA in India. The conference also revealed that even a country like Magnolia has mandatory LIA for all laws passed. Finland was an early mover on this issue and some other European countries have taken a keen interest on the subject.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi first came to power in 2014, a group of secretaries had laid out a process of how legislation should be formulated after taking all views into account. In a letter to all ministries, legislative secretary PK Malhotra had said that a policy had been formulated on pre-legislative consultations. The policy included uploading the draft bill on website for public review, studying its impact on the government, fundamental rights, environment, lives and livelihood of affected people, etc.

It was also decided that even the draft rules or legislation would carry an explanatory note in simple language for people to understand the reasons behind bringing in the bill.