 bill no 50 of 2015 the universal payment of dearness allowance bill, 2015 byshri at nana patil, mp a billto provide for payment of dearness allowance to all persons who are not being paid dearness allowance and whose annual income from all sources does not exceed rupees five lakh per annum and for matters connected therewithbe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the universal payment of dearness allowance act, 2015 (2) it extends to the whole of indiashort title, extent and commencement2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—definitions(i) "appropriate government" means in the case of the state, the government of that state and in all other cases, the central government;(ii) "dearness allowance" refers to the dearness allowance being paid to the employees of central government;5(iii) "eligible person" means a person whose annual income from all sources does not exceed rupees five lakh but does not include a person—(a) employed in connection with the affairs of the central government or a state government including a person employed in a public sector establishment;10(b) employed in a private sector and entitled to dearness allowance by whatever name called;(c) engaged in any business activity including self-employment; and(d) who is practising medicine, law or accounts;(iv) "authority" means the national authority constituted under section 4; and (v) "prescribed" means prescribed by the rules made under this act153 all eligible persons shall be paid such percentage of their monthly income as dearness allowance as is paid, from time to time, to the central government employeespayment of dearness allowance to eligible personsconstitution of national authority4 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, constitute an authority to be known as the national authority to deal with matters relating to payment of dearness allowance to eligible persons20(2) the authority shall consist of—(i) a chairperson; and (ii) twenty other members having experience of more than twenty years in public sector in an administrative capacity25(3) the chairperson and every member of the authority shall hold office for a term of five years(4) the headquarters of the authority shall be at new delhi(5) the central government shall make available to the authority such number of officers and staff as may be required for efficient functioning of the authority30(6) the salary and allowances payable to and other terms and conditions of service of the chairperson and members of the authority shall be such as may be prescribed5 the authority shall perform the following functions:—functions of the authority(i) prescribe criteria for identification of eligible persons for payment of dearness allowance under this act;35(ii) maintain a list of persons who are being paid dearness allowance under this act;(iii) lay down guidelines regarding receipt and disposal of complaints of eligible persons relating to or arising out of payment of dearness allowance;40(iv) liaison with various banks and other such institutions to ensure that dearness allowance is regularly deposited in the bank accounts of eligible persons;(v) coordinate with appropriate government for the purpose of regular updating of the list of eligible persons; and(vi) perform such other functions, as may be assigned to it by the centralgovernment56 (1) the authority shall coordinate with each district administration for the purposeof making such arrangements, as may be necessary, for payment of dearness allowance to eligible personsauthority to coordinate with district administration(2) every district administration shall provide such information and assistance, as may be necessary, to the national authority, for discharging its functions10grant by the central government7 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament by lawin this behalf, provide to the authority by way of grants such sums of money as it may think fit for being utilized for the purposes of this act8 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other law for the time being in force in relation to any of the matters provide under this actact to have overriding effect15power to make rules9 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesfor carrying out the purposes of this act20(2) every rule made under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made,before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised to one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both the houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement of objects and reasonsthe economic disparity among rich and poor is continuously increasing in the countrycommon man is facing hardship for survival due to continuous rise in prices of consumer goods in the present scenario, except the government employees and employees in certain private sector, all are suffering due to rise in prices of essential commodities the government pays dearness allowance to its employees to compensate for price rise twice in a year after taking into account rise in consumer price index there are millions of farmers, labourers and small businessmen who are facing onslaught of inflation as they do not enjoy income security and are unable to meet their daily requirementsfarmers are not able to ensure their livelihood even after toiling hard in the fields the government needs to provide necessary assistance to ensure sustainable livelihood to them the citizens other than government employees have to struggle to meet their need due to inflation as they do not get any support from the government in the form of payment of dearness allowance as is being paid to government employees it is felt necessary that the government should take steps to make provision of payment of dearness allowance to a substantial chunk of population in order to protect them from onslaught of inflationthe bill, therefore, seeks to provide for payment of dearness allowance to all persons who are not employed in government establishment or private sectors and whose annual income from all sources does not exceed rupees five lakh per annumhence this billnew delhi;at nana patilfebruary 5, 2015 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for payment of dearness allowance to eligible personsclause 4 provides for constitution of a national authority to deal with matters relating to payment of dearness allowance to eligible persons clause 7 provides that the central government shall provide funds to the authority for the purposes of the act the bill, therefore, if enacted will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that an annual recurring expenditure of about rupees twenty-three thousand crore will be involved per annuma non-recurring expenditure of about rupees one hundred crore is also likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 9 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill as the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character———— a billto provide for payment of dearness allowance to all persons who are not being paid dearness allowance and whose annual income from all sources does not exceed rupees five lakh per annum and for matters connected therewith————(shri at nana patil,  mp)gmgipmrnd—4747ls(s3)—02-03-2015