Will go over recommendations on Finance Bill: Fin. Commission Chairman

Chairman, 15th Finance Commission, N. K. Singh, on Wednesday said that the body will go over the suggestions made by several members of Parliament on the Finance Bill in a meeting today.

"Several MPs came for this meeting. We have taken their suggestions and assured them that we will go over the recommendations. This was the first meeting and the discussion will continue. The MPs offered positive suggestions and we will ponder over them," N. K. Singh said.

Leader of Communist Party of India, D. Raja shared Singh's sentiment and said that the session was a positive and interactive one.

"Chairman N. K. Singh explained the terms and reference of the 15th Finance Commission. Members made some suggestions, made some points on which the Finance Commission will have to focus. It was an interactive session, a preliminary session. The Commission is expected to visit states, there they will meet not only the government officials, but local MPs also. It is an ongoing process," Raja said.

Amid uproar by the opposition parties, the Finance Bill, 2018, was passed in Lok Sabha earlier today.

This followed a massive discontent expressed in the Lower House of Parliament by members from various political parties on Tuesday, opposing the central government's move to pass the Finance Bill without a discussion in the House.

In a letter addressed to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, the MPs demanded a discussion on the Bill.

According to the letter, the passing of the Bill without a discussion was termed as the central government's "arrogant" and "unilateral" move to bulldoze all the Finance business without any discussion on the floor of the House.

For the unversed, a Finance Bill is presented in Parliament along with the Annual Financial Statement in lieu of fulfilling the requirement of Article 110 (1)(a) of the Constitution, detailing the imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of taxes proposed in the Union Budget.

The Finance Bill also contains other provisions related to the Budget, which can be classified as a Money Bill.