There was another twist in the plot this week in the four-decade-long saga of the Lok Pal Bill. The cabinet has referred it to the law ministry. A version of this bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in 1969 but it was not passed by the Rajya Sabha. The recently introduced women’s reservation bill has also had a pretty tortured trajectory since it was first introduced in 1996. Are these long-delayed bills the exceptions to the rule? How long can bills stay alive in the system, anyway? M.R. Madhavan explains

•Are Lok Pal Bill and Women’s Reservation Bill isolated examples of long-pending legislative ideas?

No. Several other important pieces of legislation have been in the works for a long time. In 1993, the Supreme Court ruled that the right to education is a fundamental right. The Constitution was amended in 2002 to reflect this judgement. A bill to implement this right was drafted in 2005 but has not been introduced in Parliament.

A version of the Broadcast Regulation Bill (that sets up a regulatory body for the media) was introduced in 1997 and referred to a select committee but lapsed at the end of that year. Several versions have been drafted since. The ministry released the ‘19th draft’ in 2006. It released a subsequent draft in 2007.

India’s police is governed by an 1860 Act, enacted in the context of the events of 1857-58. There have been several attempts to modify its provisions. These include recommendations by the Dharam Vira Commission in 1977 and the Justice Malimath Committee in 2003. The Supreme Court gave directives to the central and state governments in October 2006, asking them to comply by year end. While some states gave executive orders in compliance, several others raised objections. A committee chaired by Soli Sorabjee also prepared a draft bill in 2006, which was circulated to state governments. Till date, the government has not introduced the relevant bill.

Another example relates to the bill on sexual harassment of women in the workplace. The SC gave guidelines in the 1997 Vishaka judgement which have the force of law until a new law is enacted. Several draft bills (in 2000, 2003 and 2005) have been placed in the public domain for comments, but the government is yet to introduce a bill in Parliament.

•Does an Act come into force immediately if it passes these impediments?

Not always. Most Acts state that the government will notify the date from which the Act comes into force. The Prasar Bharati Act was passed by Parliament and assented to by the president in September 1990. The commencement date of the Act was notified in July 1997 as September 15, 1997 — a gap of seven years. An even more extreme case is that of the Delhi Rent Act, which was passed in 1995 but is yet to be notified.

•How long can bills stay within the parliamentary system?

Article 107 of the Constitution states that bills introduced in the Rajya Sabha and pending in that House do not lapse when the Lok Sabha is dissolved. All other bills lapse when the Lok Sabha is dissolved. The oldest bill now pending dates back to 1987 — this bill amends the Indian Medical Council Act. Two bills from the 1980s and five from the 1990s are pending in the Rajya Sabha.

•Are all old bills obsolete, in practice?

Many of the old bills have been withdrawn later. However, some do get passed. In November 2007, Parliament passed the Indian Boilers Amendment Bill, which had been introduced in May 1994 (and the standing committee had given its report in March 1995).

•Do all bills take a long time to be enacted?

On the contrary, there are several examples when bills have been passed quickly. A recent instance is the bill that set an age limit for the director of AIIMS. This bill was not referred to the standing committee, and some provisions have now been nullified by the apex court. Similarly, the office of profit bill and the bill that exempted certain types of buildings in Delhi from being sealed for violating building norms were passed within a few days of introduction. Even some bills in which an ‘urgency’ argument cannot be made have been passed quickly without being examined by standing committees. Bills that were passed with just a few hours’ debate in each House of parliament (without the standing committee process) include important ones such as the SEZ Bill and the Amendment to the Constitution that enables reservation for OBCs in privately-run educational institutions.

The writer heads research at PRS Legislative Research , New Delhi