Subordinate Legislation 

MP/MLAs in Parliament / Legislative Assembly make the law only in a broad skeletal form. After that,  executive make Rules ie  minor technical details. This is known as Delegated Legislation / subordinate legislation.

April 2017 – Issue and Parliament’s Recommendation

• Issue is – Government doesn’t frame rules and as a result laws passed by Parliament remains inoperational.  Eg:  Benami Transactions Act which was enacted in 1988  to confiscate Benami properties remains inactive even after  25 years
• Parliament has recommended that government should make rules within six months of a law being passed. Process of rule-making should start in parallel with the drafting of the law.
• Implementation of these recommendations will ensure that the government cannot bypass the will of Parliament

Advantages of Delegated Legislation

Delegated Legislation is universally recognized and is both desirable and legitimate.

1 . Lack of Time

• Parliament and State Legislative assembly (SLA) are too busy with Legislative work .

2. Lack of Expertise

• Modern legislation are very complex dealing with subjects like   IT security, money laundering, clinical research etc.
• MP/MLAs cant be expected to have such a broad knowledge on all subjects .

3. More flexible

• Rules / Delegated legislation can be rapidly changed to meet the urgent requirements.

Anti-Arguments of Subordinate Legislation

• Administrators/ Bureaucrats who make rules are not responsible to public => does not take into account  interests of people. 
• Goes against Separation of Power
• Parliament does not have adequate facilities to scrutinize every piece and section of delegated legislation.  

Safeguards

1 . Parliamentary Safeguards

• Committee on Subordinate legislation => Checks whether it is inline with parent legislation or not

2. Judicial Safeguards

Judiciary can declare a delegated legislative acts as “invalid” if

• The provisions of subordinate legislation violates the Constitution
• Subordinate legislation is moving in a different direction than the parent act

3. Public scrutiny

• Public can also hold government responsible by keen scrutiny.

Steps to make Parliament more effective

Following steps can be taken to increase the effectiveness of Parliament :-

1 . Role of Parliamentary Committees

• Parliamentary Committees are kind of mini parliament in itself  .
• Larger number of bills should be referred to Parliamentary Committees as its membership is  representative of Parliament  .

2. Increasing Plenary Time

• Parliament is supposed to meet roughly 100 days per year but significant portion of that time is lost to parliamentary obstructionism . Data shows that number of working days have decreased
  • 140 days a year in the 1950s
  • 65 days over the past five years.
• NCRWC Recommendation : provision of 100 obstruction free days for parliamentary working can be made mandatory by law (each obstruction free day is defined as 5hour/day) 

3. Parliament Budget Office  (PBO)

• A Parliamentary Budget Office (akin to the US Congressional Budget Office)would help MPs provide effective oversight.

4. Shadow Cabinet

• Under such a system, opposition MPs track a certain portfolio, scrutinize its performance and suggest alternate programs.  

5. e-petition System

• Under this system, If 10 lakh people sign a petition , PM or minister concerned will have to reply to it.

6. Tackling delegated legislation

There is committee on Subordinate Delegation

• Parliament has made this committee to assure that Delegated Legislation are in broad conformity with Legislation .
• This Committee need to be strengthened.

7. Role of Speaker

• Speakers have failed spectacularly wrt upholding the rules of parliamentary conduct & punishing errant MPs

8. Increasing Women Representation

• Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha have not seen women MPs cross the 15% mark.
• Passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill (108th amendment) reserving 33% of all seats in Parliament and State legislatures for women.

Representation of Different Groups in Parliament

Women

• In 17th Lok Sabha , 78 MPs ie 14.6 % of total MPs were women & figure in Rajya Sabha was 12.7%.
• The increase in women representation is relatively small
• Even profile of women MPs reveals a distinctive bend towards Middle Class Professionals or Political Families with little/no links with women’s movements.

Why we need women in Politics ?

• To achieve the goal of Equality and Justice + India has signed CEDAW which includes discrimination in political field.
• Studies have shown that women are better decision makers , more empathetic towards weaker sections etc
• To represent needs of women in better way and make gender sensitive laws and policies

What can be done to improve their numbers ?

• 33% Reservation in Lok Sabha seats (such step in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) have shown good results)
• Start schemes to inculcate leadership qualities in women. Like Nai Roshani scheme for Minority women.
• Improve access to education to work

OBCs

• Post Mandal => 1980-90s => Powerful backward class movement led to the rise of regional parties like SP , RJD etc.
• Significant increase in representation of OBC MPs within Parliament

Religious Minorities

• Muslims remained very less represented

Age Structure

• Lok Sabha is getting older.
  1. Number of members aged 70 and above are increasing.
  2. MPs in the age group of 25 to 40 have declined from 26% to 13% from 1st to 16th Lok Sabha
• Irony is India has young population in the world represented by aged in the parliament

Sovereignty of Parliament in India

There is debate regarding question that what is the level of sovereignty enjoyed by the Parliament of India?

Unlike British Parliament , Indian Parliament is not supreme (sovereignty lies with people) . It has following limits on its sovereignty.

1 . Written Constitution

• Parliament had to operate within the limits prescribed by the Constitution
• In Britain – Constitution is not written  & there is nothing like fundamental law of the land

2. Federal System of Government

• Division of sovereignty between  Center and States
• In Britain – Unitary government & all powers with the center

3. System of Judicial Review

• Adoption of Independent judiciary  with power of the Judicial Review restricts the supremacy of the parliament

4. Fundamental Rights

• Article 13 prohibits State from making a law that either takes away totally or abrogates in part a Fundamental Right
• Britain – no codification of justiciable Fundamental Rights in constitution

In this regard , Indian Parliament is similar to the American legislature . But Indian Constitution is more sovereign than US Constitution because in India there is Procedure Established by Law unlike US where there is Due Process of Law 

Equality of seat among states in Rajya Sabha

Equality of seats among States in the Rajya Sabha is a principle, which found a great deal of acceptance in the Constituent Assembly. However, it could not be adopted because of the circumstances prevailing at that time. Is there a need to look afresh at this? 

Answer: In India, the allocation of seats to be filled by the representatives of States in the Council of States is done in proportion to the population of State.

• Constituent Assembly was in favour of equal representation of all states in Rajya Sabha. In spite of that, equal representation was not adopted because at that time the States of Indian Union were not independent entities having pre-existing rights or powers.
• As Sarkaria Commission pointed out
  • Nine States in India have just one member each in the Rajya Sabha
  • 2/3 majority ( for Constitutional Amendment)  = top 7 states & nominated members.
• Punchhi Commission also endorsed equality of representation 
• All the Federal Polities give equal representation to states irrespective of  size and population . Eg US = 2 members per state in Senate .

But the problem is that in the era of coalition politics, the interests of parties take precedence over the interests of the States.

So there are concerns whether even after giving equal representation, the behaviour of representatives of those States in the council will be according to the interests of State and not interests of their party.

Side note : Two special powers with Rajya Sabha

Art 249	Can  authorise Parliament to make laws on subject in State list (2/3 votes)
Art 312	Can authorise Parliament to create new All India Service  (2/3 votes)

Importance of Rajya Sabha and Should it be removed

Article deals with important debate in Indian polity ie Importance of Rajya Sabha and Should it be removed ?

Importance of Rajya Sabha

Federal Chamber	Strong ideological role to play in Federal polity of India =>  representatives of each state represent and protect interest of their states
Revising Chamber	As a Second Chamber, it has the mandate to secure a second sober look at hasty legislation.
Deliberative Chamber	– Rajya Sabha takes pride in the quality of debates it has held ever since its inception. – 12 Members noted for their contribution to literature, science, art and social service are nominated to RS
Chamber of Continuity	Rajya Sabha is a permanent Chamber, not subject to dissolution  which is needed in a Parliamentary System to meet the legislative and constitutional contingency at a time when the popularly elected House may be under dissolution
Representation to eminent members	Provides  for representation of eminent society members via nomination who otherwise may not participate in elections.

Arguments for removing Rajya Sabha

• It stalls progress. Same point was raised by Professor Shibban Lal Saksena in  Constitutional Assembly.

• Rajya Sabha has become parking spot for politicians not able to win their Lok Sabha seats.

• Considered to be a delaying house, which prolongs the bill passing procedure.

• Seats are bought and votes are sold vitiating the whole political atmosphere because of the limited electoral base.

• Allotment of seats in Rajya Sabha to states on the basis of population &  which is against Federal principles. Control over few big states is more than enough to scuttle the voice of numerous smaller states  .

Side Topic : Why certain powers not given to Rajya Sabha?

Rajya Sabha is elected by the MLAs and not directly by the people. Therefore,  Constitution stopped short of giving certain powers to the Rajya Sabha.  Members of Lok Sabha  are directly elected by the people and they are given  the crucial powers of removing a government and controlling the finances.

Legislative Procedure in Parliament

This article deals with ‘Parliament – Legislative Procedure in Parliament .’ This is part of our series on ‘Polity’ which is important pillar of GS-2 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here

Legislative Procedure in Parliament

Legislative procedures same in both the houses.

Bills are of two kind – Public Bill & Private Bill

1 . Public Bill

• Introduced by Minister
• Reflects policies of government
• Greater chance of approval
• Its rejection can lead to No Confidence Motion
• Requires 7 days notice
• Drafted by concerned Department with help of Law Ministry

2. Private Bill

• Introduced by any Member
• Reflect stand of opposition party
• Lesser chance of approval
• No such implication on its rejection
• Requires one month notice
• Responsibility of member concerned

It is very difficult to get Private Bill Passed

• Only 14 private member’s bills have been passed in Parliament’s history and last one of them was in 1970 . This was the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Bill, 1968.

Bills can also be classified in other way

Ordinary Bill	Concerned with any matter other than financial
Money Bill	Concerned with financial matters like taxation, public expenditure
Financial Bill	Concerned with financial matters but different from Money Bill
Constitutional Amendments	Seeks to amend the Constitutional Provisions

1 . Ordinary  Bill

Introduced by	Any Member
Introduced in	Any House
Stages to pass	5 in each House

First Reading

• Bill is introduced by reading its Title and Objective
• Published in gazette of India

Second Reading

Has three substages

Stage of General Discussion	– Printed copies of bill are distributed to all members – Principles of Bill & its Provisions are discussed generally but details are not discussed and then referred to Select Committee or Joint Committee .
Committee Stage	– Usual practice is to send it to Select Committee – Committee examines the Bill thoroughly & in detail, clause by clause – It can amend Provision but without altering principles underlying it .
Consideration Stage	– House considers Provisions of Bill clause by clause – Each clause is discussed and voted upon separately – Amendment can be done here.

Third Reading

• In this Stage, Bill should  be accepted or rejected in full and no amendments are allowed
• If Bill is passed by Majority, then it goes to other house

Bill in Second House

In other House,  it goes through all three readings and then put to vote

There are  possibilities

Possibility	Result
May pass the Bill	Deemed to be passed & send to President
1. May Reject it 2. Mayn’t  take any decision for 6 months 3. May pass it with Amendment and return to 1st House for reconsideration . But 1st house Rejects proposed Amendments	– Results in Deadlock – To resolve Joint Sitting of two houses and bill put to vote – If passed by Simple Majority, then it is deemed to be passed

Assent of President

After it is passed by both Houses , it is sent to President for its approval and President has three options

May give Assent to it	Bill becomes Act
May withhold his Assent	It ends and not becomes Act.
May send it back for reconsideration	If both Houses again pass it with or without Amendment, he has to give his assent –  Suspensive Veto

Joint Sittings

• A deadlock is deemed to have taken place  after a bill has been passed by one House and transmitted to the other House
  • if the bill is rejected by the other House;
  • If Second House pass it with Amendment and return to 1st House for reconsideration . But 1st house Rejects proposed Amendments
  • If other house doesn’t take any decision for more than six months 

In the above three situations, the President can summon both the Houses to meet in a joint sitting for the purpose of deliberating and voting on the bill.

• Joint Sitting is  applicable to
  • Ordinary  bills or
  • financial bills only

• And not to
  • Money bills : Lok Sabha has overriding powers
  • Constitutional amendment bills : bill must be passed by each House separately.

• Speaker of Lok Sabha presides over a joint sitting

• Quorum : one-tenth of the total number of members of  two Houses.
• Governed by the Rules of Procedure of Lok Sabha and not of Rajya Sabha.

• If the bill in dispute is passed by a majority of the total number of members of both the Houses present and voting in the joint sitting, the bill is deemed to have been passed by both the Houses. 

So far Joint Session was conducted for 3 times.

1. Dowry Prohibition Bill 1960
2. Banking Service Commission (Repeal) Bill, 1977
3. Prevention of Terrorism Bill 2002 (POTA) 

2. Money bills

Prerequisite about Money Bill 

• Article 110: Defines what is Money Bill
• It relates only (6 matters) to following things 
  1. Imposition, abolition ,alteration or regulation of any of the tax
  1. Borrowing of money by Union government
  1. Custody of Consolidated Fund & Contingency Fund 
  2. Appropriation of money out of Consolidated Fund
  3. Declaration of  any expenditure charged on Consolidated fund of India
  4. Receipt of money on account of Consolidated Fund of India or Public Account of India

Money bill should  contain  only  matters  listed under  article  110  (1).  If  a  bill  is  a  combination  of  any  of  the  above  and  some  other  provisions  not incidental  to  those  matters,  it cannot  be  called  a  Money  Bill

Who decides	Speaker of Lok Sabha (& not challengeable) Our Constitution follows the British procedure . However, there is a key difference. House of Commons appoints two senior members who must be consulted before the Speaker gives the certificate. In India, the Speaker makes the decision on her/his own.
Introduced in	Lok Sabha only
Introduced by	Minister only with permission of President

Introduced in Lok Sabha  (only) . Then pass through first three readings (same as Ordinary Bill)  and after passing moved to Rajya Sabha

Rajya Sabha has very limited Power

• Can’t reject or amend bill ,can only make recommendations. Lok Sabha can accept recommendation or pass it otherwise and then Bill send to President for assent
• Should pass bill within 14 days. If not , Bill is deemed to be passed

Due to lesser power of Rajya Sabha wrt Money Bill, when ruling party doesn’t enjoy majority in Rajya Sabha, they try to label Bill as Money Bill to circumvent Rajya Sabha.

President also has limited power and can

• Give Assent to Bill –  Generally this happens because Bill is introduced with his prior permission
• May not take any decision
• But cant send back Bill for reconsideration

Issue : Circumventing Upper  House through Money Bill  Strategy

• Recently  Opposition  alleged  that  Government  was  eroding  Legislative  Powers  of  Rajya  Sabha  by  deliberately introducing crucial  bills  as Money  Bills.  
  • 2017 Budget : Government brought about 40 amendments through Money Bill Route  , many of which are related to several other laws like
    • Merging eight tribunals and the changing of rules for appointments
    • Remove the cap of 7.5 % of net profits for corporates to donate to political parties
    • Give greater powers to tax officials
  • 2016: Important  bills like   Aadhar Bill, 2016 was labelled as Money Bill.

However,  the  Constitution  makes  it  abundantly  clear  that  Money  bills  should  contain  only  6 matters  listed under  article  110  (1).  If  a  bill  is  a  combination  of  any  of  the  above  and  some  other  provisions  not incidental  to  those  matters,  it cannot  be  called  a  money  bill.

• Speaker,  while  certifying  a  bill  as  Money  Bill,  is  in  effect  depriving  the  Rajya  Sabha  of  its  Legislative Power  to  disapprove  a  Bill.  There  is  no  remedy  lying  with  Rajya  Sabha  

• Mohd Saeed Siddiqui vs State of UP (2014) :Supreme Court =>  decision of Speaker “that Bill in question is Money Bill is final  ”.

• But  Constitution Bench in Raja Ram Pal v. Hon’ble Speaker, Lok Sabha (2007), ruled that SC can interfere when  Speaker’s choice is grossly illegal

3. Financial  Bills

• Deals with fiscal matters i.e. Revenue & Expenditure

Financial Bill(1)	Art117(1)
Financial Bill(2)	Art117(3)

• Money Bill is also Financial Bill but because of importance of those matters other category is given to them

Financial Bill(1)

What	Bills that not only contains matters related to Article 110 but some other matters too
Similarity To Money bill	– Can be introduced only in Lok Sabha – Can be introduced only on recommendation of President
Similarity To Ordinary Bill	– Can be rejected or amended by Rajya Sabha – In case of deadlock Joint Sitting can be called President can send it back for reconsideration

Financial Bill(2)

What	Relating to provisions involving Consolidated Fund not mentioned in Article 110
Special Features	It can’t be passed by either House of Parliament unless President has recommended to House for consideration of Bill
Other features	Rest all features similar to Ordinary Bill

4. Budget in Parliament

• Term Budget is nowhere mentioned in constitution
• Mentioned term is Annual Financial Statement (Article 112)
• Article 112 of Constitution deals with it

Budget contains following

• Estimates of  Revenue & Capital Receipts
• Ways & means to raise Revenue
• Estimates of Expenditure
• Details of Actual Receipts & Expenditure of closing years & reasons for Deficit or Surplus
• Economic & Financial policy of coming year i.e taxation ,spending program etc

Earlier , Government of India used to  present two Budgets

Railway budget	Presented by Railway Minister
General budget	By Finance Minister

Separation was done in 1921 on recommendations of Acworth Committee Report (British legacy). But , two Budgets were again merged into one in 2017  by NDA Government.

Constitutional Provisions regarding Budget

• President shall lay before Houses of Parliament estimated receipts & expenditure every financial year
• No Demand for Grant shall be made  except in recommendation of President
• No money shall be withdrawn from Consolidated Fund except under Appropriation made by Law
• No tax shall be levied or collected except by Authority of Law
• Estimates of Expenditure embodied in Budget shall show separately Expenditure Charged on Consolidated Fund & Expenditure made from Consolidated Fund
• Budget shall distinguish expenditure on Revenue Account from other Expenditure

Charged Expenditure on Consolidated Fund

Following consist of Charged Expenditure

1. Emolument and Allowances of President, Vice President , Deputy Chairman of RS, Speaker & Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha,  CAG , Members of UPSC
2. Salaries , Allowances & Pension of Judges of Supreme Court + Pensions of Judges of High Courts
3. Any sum required to satisfy any Judgement ,decree or award of any Court or Tribunal
4. Any expenditure declared by Parliament to be Charged

(Note : Salary of Governor is not Charged on Consolidated Fund)

Stages in enactment of Bill

Stage 1 : Presentation of the Budget

• Budget is presented by Finance Minister on first working day of February with the Budget Speech in Lok Sabha.  Then, laid before Rajya Sabha which can only discuss it and has no power to vote on Demand for Grants

Stage 2 : General Discussion

• Begins a few days after its presentation
• In both the Houses of Parliament
• Lasts for 3-4 days
• Lok Sabha  can discuss the Budget as a whole or on any question of principle involved . BUT
  • No Cut  Motion can be moved
  • Budget cannot be submitted to Vote of the House

Stage 3 : Scrutiny by Departmental Committees

• When General discussion is over , Houses are adjourned for 3-4 weeks . 24 Departmental Standing Committees of Parliament examine and discuss in detail Demand for Grants for the concerned Ministers and prepare reports . Reports are then submitted to both houses for consideration
• Note : Standing Committee System introduced in 1993, expanded in 2004 . It makes Parliamentary Financial control over the Ministries much more detailed , close , in depth and comprehensive

Stage 4 : Voting on Demands for grants 

Lok Sabha takes up voting on Demand for Grant . Presented ministry wise . Demand becomes Grant only after it has been duly voted.

Important points :

1. Voting in Demand for Grant is the exclusive power of LS . RS has no power .
2. Voting is confined to the votable part of the Budget . Expenditure Charged on Consolidated Fund of India is not submitted to vote . It can only be discussed.

Cut Motions

Members of Parliament can discuss the details of the Budget and can also move Motions to reduce any demand. Three such Cut Motions

Policy Cut Motion	– Represents the disapproval of the policy underlying the demand – States that amount of the demand be reduced to ₹ 1
Economy cut motion	Represents that amount of the demand be reduced by a specified amount ( which may be either lump sump reduction in the demand or omission or reduction of an item in the demand )
Token cut motion	Reduces the amount of demand by ₹ 100 , ventilating a specific grievance that is within the sphere of responsibility of the GoI

Conditions to be satisfied the cut motion

• Relate to one demand only
• Be clearly expressed . No arguments or defamatory statements
• Confined to one matter only
• No suggestions for amendment or repeal of existing laws
• Not refer to matter that is not of primary concern to Union government
• Not relate to expenditure charged on Consolidated Fund of India
• Not relate to matter under adjudication by the court
• Not raise a question of Privilege
• Not revive a matter on which discussion has already taken place in same session

Significance of the cut motion

• Concentrated discussion of specific demand for grant
• Upholding the principle of responsible government by probing the activities of the government

Not of much utility in practice

• Only moved and discussed in the house
• Not passed as government enjoys the majority support

Their passage in Lok Sabha amount to want of Parliamentary confidence in government and may lead to resignation

In total 26 days for voting on demands => on last day speaker puts all the remaining demands to vote and disposes them whether discussed or not => GUILLOTINE

Stage 5 : Passing of the Finance Bill

• Finance Bill is introduced to give effect to the Financial Proposals of Government of India for the following year
• Unlike Appropriation bill , amendments can be moved in case of Finance bill
• Finance Act legalises the income side of the budget and completes the process of settlement of the budget

Sessions of Parliament and Parliamentary Proceedings

This article deals with ‘Parliament – Sessions of Parliament and Parliamentary Proceedings .’ This is part of our series on ‘Polity’ which is important pillar of GS-2 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here

Sessions of Parliament

• By convention, Parliament meets for three sessions in a year:
  1. Budget session which is held towards the beginning of the year,
  2. Three-week Monsoon session (July-August)
  3. Winter session (November-December).

• Constitutional Provision : Article 85  only requires that there should not be a gap of more than six months between two parliamentary sessions. The same applies to state legislatures.

Terms related to Sessions of Parliament

1 . Summoning

• President summon both the Houses from time to time
• But there can’t be more than 6 months between two meetings

Side Note – Only President can summon Houses on recommendation of Prime Minister. In order to increase the Parliamentary Control over Executive, there is  need to Amend Constitution to empower President to convene a session of Parliament on a request of a specified number of MPs. UK & USA too has such provisions

2. Adjournment

• There are two sittings in a day

Morning	11-1
Post Lunch	2-6

• Adjournment suspends the sitting for specific time which may be hours  or days or weeks
• Done by Presiding Officer of the House

3. Adjournment Sine die

• Termination of sittings of Parliament for indefinite time
• Done by Presiding Officer of the House

4. Prorogation

• Within few days after Sine Die ,President issues notification for Prorogation of the session and it terminates the session
• President can Prorogue the house while in session

5. Dissolution

• Rajya Sabha is Permanent House only Lok Sabha is subject to dissolution
• Dissolution ends the very life of existing house & new house is to be constituted after general elections.
• Can happen in two cases
  • Automatic dissolution on expiry of its tenure after 5 years
  • When President decides to dissolves the House

Position of bills wrt Dissolution of Lok Sabha

Lapse	– Bill pending in Lok Sabha  (introduced in Lok Sabha and pending there or introduced in Rajya Sabha & passed by it and pending in Lok Sabha) – Bill passed  by Lok Sabha but pending in Rajya Sabha (Only these two. All other bills don’t Lapse)
Doesn’t lapse	– Bill doesn’t passed by both houses due to disagreement and notified by President for Joint sitting – Bill pending in Rajya Sabha but not passed by Lok Sabha – Passed by both Houses but doesn’t received assent of President – Bill passed by both houses but returned by President for reconsideration

6. Quorum

• Minimum number of members required for transacting any business in house
• 1/10 of total strength

Lok Sabha	55
Rajya Sabha	25

7. Voting in House

• All matters in both the houses decided by Simple Majority
• Only special matters specifically mentioned in the Constitution decided by using Special Majority or Absolute Majority

8. Language in Parliament

• Hindi & English is language of House
• Member can address in his mother tongue taking permission of Presiding Officer
• In both Houses , there is arrangement for simultaneous translation

9. Rights of ministers & Attorney general

• All  Ministers and Attorney General of India has right to speak & take part in proceedings of either House & Joint Sittings
• And also in any committee of Parliament of which he is not a member but without right to vote in both cases

10 . Lame duck session

• Last session of existing Lok Sabha after new house is elected
• Members of Lok Sabha which don’t get elected to next house are called Lame Ducks

Devices of Parliamentary Proceedings

Question Hour (11-12)

• First hour of  sitting is for this
• Members ask questions and Ministers answers them usually

Three types of questions

Starred Questions	– Requires oral answer – Supplementary questions can follow
Unstarred Questions	– Requires written answer – Supplementary questions cant follow – In Star & Unstarred , notice has to be given 15 days in advance
Short Notice Question	– Asked by giving a short notice less than 10 days – Required to be answered orally

Zero Hour (12-1)

• Not mentioned in rule of books, an Indian invention ,in practice since 1962
• Time between Question hour & the agenda of day
• Members can raise matters in it without prior notice

Motions

• No discussion in Parliament can take place without Motion with consent of Presiding officer of house

Fall into three categories

Substantive Motion	– Deals with most important matters like Impeachment of President
Substitute Motion	– Moved in substitution of an original motion & seeks alternate to it – It supersedes original motion
Subsidiary Motion	– In itself has no meaning and is made in reference to original motion.   – Three subcategories 1. Ancillary motion : Regular way of proceeding with various kinds of business 2. Superseding motion : Moved in course of debate on other issue and seeks to supersede that issue  3. Amendment : It modifies or substitute part of original motion

Closure Motion

• Moved by member to cut short debate on matter

It is of four kinds

Simple Closure	When matter is sufficiently discussed
Closure by Compartment	– When Bill is lengthy it is divided into parts – Debate covers part as whole & put to vote
Kangaroo closure	Only some clauses taken for debate & voting & other clauses are skipped and deemed to be passed
Guillotine closure	When undiscussed clauses are put to vote  along with discussed ones due to warrant of time

Privilege Motion

• Concerned with breach of Parliamentary privileges by Minister
• Purpose is to censure the concerned Minister

Calling Attention Motion

• Indian innovation but mentioned in Rules of Procedure & in existence since 1954
• Introduced by Member to call attention of Minister to matter of urgent importance & seek authoritative statement from him
• Doesn’t involve any discussion / voting
• Minister may make a brief statement about the matter or he may ask for time to make a statement later

Adjournment Motion

• Draw attention of House to urgent matter of public concern & need support of 50 members. It is extraordinary device as interrupts ordinary business
• Censure against government & hence cant be introduced in Rajya Sabha
• Discussion should be atleast 2.5 hours

No-Confidence Motion

• Article 75: Ministers are Collectively Responsible to Parliament
• Lok Sabha can remove Ministry by passing it & need support of 50 to introduce
• Needn’t state reason for its introduction & council of ministers must resign after this
• Only one such motion can be moved in 6 months
• The matter is taken up for discussion within 10 days of notice .
• Rajya Sabha has no role to play in No Confidence Motion

Censure Motion

• Can be moved only in the Lok Sabha & by the opposition of the House
• Can be moved against particular Minister or Council of Ministers and reason need to be mentioned
• Moved for Censuring specific policies of government. But if the Censure Motion is passed , Council of Minister is bound to seek confidence of Lok Sabha as early as possible
• Minister needn’t resign    after this
• Signed notice must be given by atleast 50 members .

Motion of Thanks

Motion which follows the President address to Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha after General Election and first session of each Financial year

• Equivalent to SPEECH FROM THRONE in Britain
• Then put to vote & must be passed.
• If lapses in Lok Sabha , considered defeat of government

No day yet named motion

• Motion admitted to Speaker but date to discuss it not yet fixed
• Speaker fix that after discussion with Leader of House

Point of Order

• Member can move it when proceedings of House don’t follow normal rules
• Extra ordinary device as suspend proceedings & raised by opposition member mostly

Half an hour Discussion

• Speaker can allot three days a week for this
• Meant for discussing matter of public importance which has gone through enough discussion but answer to which needs elucidation on matter of fact

Short duration Discussion

• Also called two hour discussion
• Members can raise discussions on matter of public importance in this

Special Mention

• Matter which cant be raised in any motion. Can be raised in Rajya Sabha by special mention motion
• Lok Sabha equivalent of this is NOTICE

Resolutions

• To draw attention of house on matter of public importance
• All Resolutions come under category of substantive motion ( only important matters)
• Discussion on this must be strictly relevant to & in scope of resolution

Issue : Low number of Parliamentary Sittings 

Data to support this

• Parliament sittings have reduced from
  • 140 days/year at time of Independence
  • 65 days/year presently
• State Legislatures=  29 days a year on average.
• Dec 2018 : Winter Session  of Punjab LA was of just 3 days . 

Need of adequate number of Parliamentary sittings

• Good quality of legislations after proper discussion :  Due to lesser number of sittings , laws are not properly discussed which create problems later
• Increase Executive Accountability to Legislature    

Consequences of low number of sittings

1. Compromised legislative business – It results in hasty passage of bills, frequent resort to Ordinances and budgets without due debate. Eg : Over the years, the time spent on discussing the Budget has reduced from an average of 125 hours in the 1950s to 40 hours in the last decade.
2. Undermines legitimacy of Parliament
3. Compromised Accountability of Executive to Legislature
4. Lack of avenues available to MPs to express dissent culminating in MPs disrupting proceedings of Parliament.
5. Undermining Separation of Power
6. Large scale promulgation of Ordinances.

Ways to address this

• Dilute the power of the government to be the sole decider of session dates.  There is urgent need to Amend Constitution to empower President to convene a session of Parliament on a request of a specified number of MPs
• National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC) has recommended the minimum number of sittings for Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha be fixed at 120 and 100 respectively. 
• Odisha has already shown the way, mandating minimum 60 days for the State Assembly.
• System of Annual Calendar of sittings based on deliberation by all parties as is prevalent in UK.

Issue : Large number of Disruptions

Reasons

1. Winner takes all approach of Ruling Parties : Parliamentary System works on Consensus building and Give & Take
2. Low number of Sittings : MPs don’t get time to raise concerns of their constituency
3. Opening up of Parliament to live telecasts has increased the incentives for groups of MPs disrupt Parliament for particular issue  , knowing well that it will be widely covered
4. Stand of Political Parties : In previous Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj said on record that Parliamentary Disruptions are also legitimate way of showing displeasure with Government’s policies.

Presiding Officers and Leaders in Parliament

This article deals with ‘Parliament – Presiding Officers and Leaders in Parliament .’ This is part of our series on ‘Polity’ which is important pillar of GS-2 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here

Presiding Officers

There are following Presiding Officers in the Parliament

Lok Sabha	Speaker & Deputy Speaker
Rajya Sabha	Chairman & Deputy Chairman

1 . Speaker of Lok Sabha

Election of Lok Sabha

• Elected by members of Lok Sabha from among themselves.

Tenure of Lok Sabha

• Generally holds office during life of Lok Sabha
• Has to vacate his office in following conditions
  • He ceases to be member of Lok Sabha
  • He resigns writing to Deputy Speaker
  • Removed by resolution passed by Absolute Majority of Lok Sabha  (Exact wording – Speaker may be removed from his office by a resolution of the Assembly passed by a majority of all the then members of the Assembly)
• When Lok Sabha is dissolved, Speaker don’t vacate his office and continues till newly elected Lok Sabha meets.

Powers of Lok Sabha

• He maintains order & decorum of the house
• He is final interpreter of provisions of constitution & rules of procedure wrt  Lok Sabha.  
• He adjourns the house or suspends it in absence of Quorum
• He presides over the Joint Sitting of two Houses of Parliament
• He can allow secret sitting of house on request of Leader of the house
• He decides whether bill is Money Bill or not and his decision is final
• He decides the question of disqualification of Lok Sabha arising out of provisions of 10th Schedule .
• He appoints Chairman to the Parliamentary Committees & himself is chairman of Business Advisory Committee, Rules Committee & General Purpose Committee

Independence & Impartiality of Lok Sabha

• Provided with security of tenure & can be removed only by Absolute Majority
• Salaries and allowances charged on Consolidated Fund of India
• His work & conduct can’t be discussed or criticized in Lok Sabha
• His powers of regulating house are not subject to judicial review
• He cant cast vote at first instance and cast vote only in case of tie
• Given high position in order of precedence(7 equal to Chief Justice of India)

2. Deputy Speaker

• Also elected by Lok Sabha . His election occurs after election of Speaker
• His tenure terms are same as that of Speaker
• He performs all the duties of Speaker when Speaker is absent
• His position is not subordinate to Speaker & he is directly responsible to Parliament
• Special Privilege whenever he is appointed as member of Parliamentary committee, he automatically becomes its Chairman
• When Speaker presides over the House, he acts as ordinary member of House

Panel of Chairpersons

• Speaker nominates from Lok Sabha, not more than 10 members as Panel of Chairpersons and when both Speaker & Deputy are absent , anybody from them can act as Speaker
• But when office of both Speaker & Deputy are vacant, then Speaker’s duty is  performed by such person appointed by President.

Speaker Pro tem

• Speakers Office don’t fall vacant with dissolution of Lok Sabha but just before the first meeting of new house
• When new house meet for first time, house is Presided by Speaker Pro Tem, who by convention is seniormost member in house and functions are
  1. Administer oath to new members
  2. Enables house to elect new Speaker

Notes

• By Convention, Speaker and Deputy Speakers are from following parties

Speaker	From Ruling Party
Deputy Speaker	From Opposition Party

• First Speaker and Deputy Speakers were as follows

Speaker	GV Mavlankar
Deputy speaker	A Ayyangar

Analysis : Partisan role played by Speakers (of Legislative Assembly & Lok Sabha)

1. Partisan roles played by the Speaker
   • In Uttarakhand case, disqualified rebel members to change composition of the house to enable Government survive No Confidence Motion
   • Suspension of all the principal opposition parties in the legislative assembly of Gujarat and TN 
2. Role in Anti-Defection Law
   • Speaker acts as Tribunal in deciding matters of disqualification under Defection
   • Due to this, Speakers keep on sitting on files and don’t decide the matter in case of defection by Opposition Legislators. This happened in Telangana, AP etc
3. Deciding Ordinary Bills as Money Bills as happened in various cases like Aadhar Act.

Changes required wrt powers of Speaker

• Powers under Schedule 10 should be transferred to Election Commission of India
• After getting elected as Speaker, he/she must resign from the party membership as practiced in matured democracies like UK. Also, his constituency should go uncontested in the next general election.

3. Chairman of  Rajya Sabha

• Vice President of India is ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha
• During any period he acts as President, he don’t perform this duty
• While presiding  Rajya Sabha, he has same powers as Speaker excluding
  • He cant decide whether Bill is Money Bill or Ordinary Bill
  • Can’t preside over Joint Sitting
• Unlike Speaker , Chairman is not member of Rajya Sabha
• He cant vote in first instance but can vote in case of tie
• His salary and allowance are charged on consolidated fund of India

4. Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha

• Elected by Rajya Sabha from among themselves
• Has to vacate his office in following conditions
  • He ceases to be member of Rajya Sabha
  • He resigns writing to  Chairman
  • Removed by resolution passed by Absolute Majority of Rajya Sabha
• He performs all the duties of Chairman when Chairman  is absent
• His position is not subordinate to Chairman & he is directly responsible to Rajya Sabha
• When Chairman presides the house, he acts as ordinary member of Rajya Sabha

Panel of Vice – Chairpersons

• Chairman nominates from Rajya Sabha,  members as Panel of Vice-Chairpersons and when both Chairman & deputy are absent anybody from them can act as Speaker
• But when office of both Chairman & Deputy are vacant, then Chairman’s duty are performed by such person appointed by President

Leaders in Parliament

1 . Leader of House

• Not mentioned in Constitution but Rules of Houses
• Leader of House means Prime Minister if he is member of Lok Sabha or any Minister appointed by him to function as Leader of House
• Rajya Sabha too has leader of House like Lok Sabha
• USA equivalent of Majority Leader

2. Leader of Opposition

• Not mentioned in Constitution but Rules of Houses
• Leader of the largest opposition party not having less than 1/10 of the total strength of house
• Both Rajya Sabha & Lok Sabha has this office
• 1969: Office created &1977 : Given Statutory Status
• Entitled to Salary, Allowances& Facilities equivalent to Cabinet Minister
• Minute version of Shadow Cabinet of Britain & US equivalent of Minority Leader

3. Whip

• Neither Constitutional nor in rules of Houses but purely Conventional office
• He communicates the decision of the party leader to the members and the opinion of the party members to the party leader.
• Members are supposed to follow the directives given by the Whip. Failing to do so can invite disciplinary actions like disqualification from party membership or expulsion under the Anti Defection Law.

Significance  of Whip

• Stability of Government: by ensuring favourable voting during passage of bills and motions
• Ensuring Attendance in Parliament for widespread discussion on important issues.

Problems

• Restricted internal democracy of the party 
• Against the Constitutional Philosophy : Individual members are  not allowed to represent their individual views or  views of the people of their constituency.
• It creates a ‘forced consensus’
• Poor Quality of Debates:  legislators are not allowed to dissent on important  issue from party line.

Way forward

• Issuance of a whip could be limited to only those bills that could threaten the survival of a government, such as money bills or no-confidence motions.

Notes : In USA, party whip’s role is to gauge how many legislators are in support of a bill and how many are opposed to it — and to the extent possible, persuade them to vote according to the party line on the issue