new delhi eminent jurist fali nariman joined musician tm krishna social activist aruna roy and over 175 journalists and academics in calling on rajya sabha to uphold the spirit of the constitution after lok sabha passed the finance bill 2017 as a money bill a week ago in introducing the bill as a money bill the government has continued the abuse of process where vital debates on the controversial aadhaar targeted delivery of financial and other subsidies benefits and services bill 2016 were avoided the massive 92page document of the finance bill 2017 includes 40 amendments to a number of acts these amendments have far reaching consequences for not only several significant laws but the very nature of indian democracy and constitution the press release issued by the group on wednesday saidearlier fali nariman economist prabhat patnaik activist aruna roy political scientist zoya hasan narmada bachao andolan leader medha patkar economist jayati ghosh activist swami agnivesh academic usha ramanathan magsaysay award winner bezwada wilson actor nandita das and about 150 others wrote to vicepresident hamid ansari exofficio chairman of the rajya sabha to allow extensive and uninterrupted discussions into every aspect of the bill no 12c of 2017 in the upper house and put all these on record and do everything else in your power to ensure that the practice of bypassing important bills by illegitimately classifying them as money bills is immediately stopped the press release explained as per this bill the aadhaar card will be mandatory to file incometax returns from july 1 the legislation also makes the unique id compulsory to apply for a permanent account number pan speaking on subversion of the parliamentary process aruna roy of mkss said in deliberate and shocking perversion of legislative procedures the finance bill goes much beyond its limits to destroy basic democratic and fundamental rightsthe group noted that the finance bill includes amendments to the telecom regulatory authority of india act companies act employees provident fund act information technology act smuggling and foreign exchange act etc it also allows funding of political parties to become even more opaque increasing the potential for corruption jagdeep chhokar of the association for democratic reforms said amending 40 pieces of legislation through the finance bill 2017 without application of mind of the rajya sabha runs completely against the spirit of the constitution of proposed amendments related to political funding he said allowing electoral bonds on the donors side and removing the name of the recipient brings in complete opacity in political funding this must be critically examinedjnu economist jayati ghosh said the bill contains several provisions that will drastically increase black money and corruption while the government and the speaker have ignored the concerns raised by the opposition in the lok sabha it has become a duty to speak out and raise concerns following the passage of a bill that has in one fell swoop affected so many multiple rights that we normally take for grantedsome of the signatories asked for an appointment