PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGES & COMMITTEE

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WHY IN NEWS ?

Recently, two MPs were suspended from the house,pending reports by the Privileges committee.

ORIGIN OF PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGES:

When the Constitution framers made our founding document, it provided that parliamentary privileges would be those specified in a law made by Parliament.
And until the national legislature made such a law, privileges would be those enjoyed by the House of Commons, the lower House of the United Kingdom’s Parliament.
In 1978, Parliament deleted the reference to the House of Commons by a constitutional amendment. And it is yet to make any law specifying these privileges.

ABOUT PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGES:

Parliament and its Members (MPs) have certain rights and immunities that enable them to function effectively in their legislative roles.
These are called parliamentary privileges.
Parliamentary privileges are a mix of provisions in the Constitution, statutes, House procedures and conventions.
For example, the Constitution specifies that MPs have freedom of speech and immunity from judicial proceedings against anything they say or votes they cast in Parliament.
The Code of Civil Procedure protects them from arrest and detention under civil cases during a parliamentary session, and for a specified period before it begins and after it ends.
Parliamentary rules specify that authorities should immediately inform the Speaker of Lok Sabha and Chairman of Rajya Sabha about MPs’ arrests, releases and convictions.

PARLIAMENT VIS-A-VIS BREACH OF PRIVILEGE :

Each House of Parliament is the guardian of its privileges.
Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have the authority to take suitable action against anyone who breaches the privileges of its members or commits contempt of the House.
There are two mechanisms by which Parliament takes up these matters.
The first is by a member raising the issue on the floor of the House, and then the House decides on it.
But Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha usually send the matter for a detailed examination to their Privileges Committee.
The committee recommends to the House a course of action which is then accepted by it.
The Chairman of the Lok Sabha committee currently is its MP Sunil Kumar Singh, and the Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, Harivash, heads the committee of the upper House.
MPs can also bring matters of breach of privilege to the notice of the presiding officers of their respective Houses.
The presiding officers can then decide whether or not to send the case to the committee of privileges.

ABOUT PRIVILEGE MOTION:

The two rules referred to here relate to the concept of parliamentary privilege, which are certain rights conferred to the Members of Parliament for conducting the business of the Parliament.
There is no codified list of the exact privileges, but it includes the right of free expression in the course of Parliamentary debates and Members of Parliament will not be liable for court proceedings for this.
If there is a belief that such a privilege has been breached, a motion can be raised by any member.
It can be admitted by the Chairman. They can then refer it to the Privileges Committee.
The Chairman can, from time to time, nominate such a Committee, consisting of ten members.
It will also have a Chairman appointed by the Rajya Sabha Chairman.
The right to raise a question of privilege is based on satisfying two conditions, namely:

Similar provisions exist in Lok Sabha with the Speaker having the power to make such decisions.
The Speaker/RS chairperson is the first level of scrutiny of a privilege motion.
Therefore, the Speaker/Chair can decide on the privilege motion himself or herself or refer it to the privileges committee of Parliament.

WHAT KINDS OF CASES COME TO COMMITTEE?

Usually, the committees examine cases where MPs complain that an outsider has breached their privilege.
For example, the Lok Sabha committee recently looked at multiple instances in which MPs have alleged that government officials have either violated protocol or been unresponsive. But this year, MPs have also brought questions about breach of privilege by other MPs.
In Rajya Sabha, MPs have brought at least eight cases of breach of privilege against their colleagues.
These are about video recording unauthorised proceedings, gross disorderly conduct, repeated submission of identical notices, disrespectful observations against the Chairman, misleading the media about House proceedings, and including names of MPs in a motion without their consent.

WHAT ACTIONS CAN PRIVILEGES COMMITTEE TAKE ?

The mandate of the committee is to examine such cases and “make such recommendations as it may deem fit”.
It can call the relevant people as part of its examination and look at related documents.
It has to then make a report and if the Council has not fixed any time for its presentation, the report shall be presented within one month of the date on which reference to the Committee was made.
A motion has to be passed for the consideration of the report and amendments can be suggested.
The Chairman or any member of the Committee or any other member can move that the Council agrees, disagrees, or agrees with amendments, with the recommendations contained in the report.

SYLLABUS: MAINS,GS-2, INDIAN POLITY

SOURCE: INDIAN EXPRESS

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