A seven judge bench of the Supreme Court will take up on January 30, 2024, petitions challenging the validity of passing laws like Aadhaar Act and amendments to Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as money bills. An SC notification said the bench will be presided over by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud. The original petition challenged the government role vis a vis running of Tribunals. Subsequently, this and petitions challenging the introduction of the Aadhaar Act as money bill came to be listed before a 5-judges bench which referred it to 7-judge bench. A money bill can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha cannot reject it. Petitioners have argued that many crucial legislation’s were classified as money bills to avoid unfavourable consequences in the Rajya Sabha where the government did not have majority.
