New Delhi: The government on Friday introduced the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 in the Lok Sabha, which seeks to increase the option for nominees per bank account to four, from existing one, among others. The move of the government aims at ensuring the better protection of depositors and enhances the customer convenience as well. Besides, the three other Bills were also introduced in the House, and the introduced bills are expected to be cleared by the government in the next session of Parliament.
Another proposed change relates to redefining ‘substantial interest’ for directorships, which could increase to Rs 2 crore instead of the current limit of Rs 5 lakh, which was fixed almost six decades ago. With the change, Opposition leaders were not happy with the introduction of the Bill, saying the power to legislate with regard to cooperative societies vests with state governments.
Replying to the concerns of Opposition MPs over the bill, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Banking Regulation Act and the cooperative banks do have a relationship and hence any amendment has to be taken through this route. “There is no attempt to undermine the cooperatives, particularly cooperatives dealing with everything other than banks,” Sitharaman said.
The finance minister also said that banks and cooperatives with a licence for banking would have to have a rule. The Bill also seeks to give greater freedom to banks in deciding the remuneration to be paid to statutory auditors. It also seeks to redefine the reporting dates for banks for regulatory compliance to the 15th and last day of every month instead of the second and fourth Fridays.
Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha also passed the Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak Bill 2024, which will replace the 90-year-old Aircraft Act to address the current discrepancies in the aviation law and help the industry grow.
Apart from Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, the government further introduced three more bills in Lok Sabha which are Railways (Amendment) Bill 2024, Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill, 2024, and the Bills of Lading Bill, 2024. These bills will now be taken in the winter session of the Parliament for discussion and passing.
The Railways (Amendment) Bill 2024 seeks to grant statutory powers to the Railway Board, while the Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill, 2024, seeks to comply with the international convention and with the changing global scenario in the shipping industry. The Bill also seeks to provide the responsibilities, liabilities, rights and immunities attached to carriers with respect to the carriage of goods by sea and for matters connected therewith or related thereto.
The Bills of Lading Bill, 2024 seeks to make provisions for the transfer of rights of suit and all liabilities to the consignee named in a bill of lading and every endorsee of a bill of lading, to whom the property in the goods mentioned in the bill of lading shall pass.
