Powers and Privileges of Parliament - Questions and Answers

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:

• Any act or omission which obstructs a House of Parliament, its member or its officer in the performance of their functions or which has a tendency, directly or indirectly to produce results against the dignity, authority and honor of the House is treated as contempt of the House.


• Though the two phrases, ‘breach of privilege’ and ‘contempt of the House’ are used interchangeably, they have different implications.


• Normally, a breach of privilege may amount to contempt of the House.


• Contempt of the House, however, has wider implications.


• There may be contempt of the House without specifically committing a breach of privilege.

Sources of Privileges -


• Originally, the Constitution (Article 105) explicitly mentions two privileges, that is, freedom of speech in Parliament and right of publication of its proceedings.


• With regard to other privileges, it provided that they were to be the same as those of the British House of Commons, its committees and its members on the date of its commencement (i.e., 26 January, 1950), until defined by Parliament.


• The 44^thAmendment Act of 1978 provided that the other privileges of each House of Parliament, its committees and its members are to be those which they had on the date of its commencement (i.e., 20 June, 1979), until defined by Parliament.


• The amendment has made only verbal changes by dropping a direct reference to the British House of Commons, without making any change in the implication of the provision.


• It should be noted here that the Parliament, till now, has not made any special law to exhaustively codify all the privileges.

They are based on five sources, namely,

1. Constitutional provisions.

2. Various laws made by Parliament.

3. Rules of both the Houses.

4. Parliamentary conventions.

5. Judicial interpretations.

Sovereignty of Parliament -


• The doctrine of ‘sovereignty of Parliament’ is associated with the British Parliament.


• Sovereignty means the supreme power within the State.


• That supreme power in Great Britain lies with the Parliament.


• The Indian Parliament is not a sovereign body in the similar senses there are ‘legal’ restrictions on its authority and jurisdiction.

The factors limiting the sovereignty of Indian Parliament are as follows -

1. Written Constitution.

2. Federal System of Government.

3. Fundamental Rights.

4. Judicial review.

ANSWER: Freedom of speech in Parliament is a collective privilege

Explanation:

• Parliamentary privileges are special rights, immunities and exemptions enjoyed by the two Houses of Parliament, their committees and their members.


• They are necessary in order to secure the independence and effectiveness of their actions.


• Without these privileges, the Houses can neither maintain their authority, dignity nor honor nor can protect their members from any obstruction in the discharge of their parliamentary responsibilities.


• The Constitution has also extended the parliamentary privileges to those persons who are entitled to speak and take part in the proceedings of a House of Parliament or any of its committees.


• These include the attorney general of India and Union ministers.


• must be clarified here that the parliamentary privileges do not extend to the president who is also an integral part of the Parliament.

Parliamentary privileges can be classified into two broad categories -

Collective Privileges i.e., belonging to each House of Parliament collectively are -

1. In have the right to publish its reports, debates and proceedings and also the right to prohibit others from publishing the same.

2. The 44^th Amendment Act of 1978 restored the freedom of the press to publish true reports of parliamentary proceedings without prior permission of the House. But this above is not applicable in the case of a secret sitting of the House.

3. It can exclude strangers from its proceedings and hold secret sittings to discuss some important matters.

4. It can make rules to regulate its own procedure and the conduct of its business and to adjudicate upon such matters.

5. It can punish members as well as outsiders for breach of its privileges or its contempt by reprimand, admonition or imprisonment (also suspension or expulsion, in case of members).

6. It has the right to receive immediate information of the arrest, detention, conviction, imprisonment and release of a member.

7. It can institute inquiries and order the attendance of witnesses and send for relevant paper sand records.

8. The courts are prohibited to inquire into the proceedings of a House or its committees.

9. No person (either a member or outsider) can be arrested, and no legal process (civil or criminal) can be served within the precincts of the House without the permission of the presiding officer.

Individual Privileges i.e., belonging to the members individually are -

1. They cannot be arrested during the session of Parliament and 40 days before the beginning and 40 days after the end of a session.

2. This privilege is available only in civil cases and not in criminal cases or preventive detention cases.

3. They have freedom of speech in Parliament.

4. No member is liable to any proceedings in any court for anything said or any vote given by him in Parliament or its committees.

5. These freedoms subject to the provisions of the Constitution and to the rules and standing orders regulating the procedure of Parliament.

6. They are exempted from jury service. They can refuse to give evidence and appear as witness in a case pending in a court when Parliament is in session.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

• The parliamentary control over government and administration in India is more in theory than in reality.

In practice, the control is not as effective as it ought to be due to -

1. The Parliament has neither time nor expertise to control the administration which has grown in volume as well as complexity.

2. Parliament’s financial control is hindered by the technical nature of the demands for grants.

3. The parliamentarians being laymen cannot understand them properly and fully.

4. The legislative leadership lies with the Executive and it plays a significant role in formulating policies.

5. The very size of the Parliament is too large and unmanageable to be effective.

6. The majority support enjoyed by the Executive in the Parliament reduces the possibility of effective criticism.

7. The financial committees like Public Accounts Committee examine the public expenditure after it has been incurred by the Executive i.e., post mortem work.

8. The increased recourse to ‘guillotine’ reduced the scope of financial control.

9. The growth of ‘delegated legislation’ has reduced the role of Parliament in making detailed laws and has increased the powers of bureaucracy.

10. The frequent promulgation of ordinances by the president dilutes the Parliament’s power of legislation.

11. The Parliament’s control is sporadic, general and mostly political in nature.

12. Lack of strong and steady opposition in the Parliament, and a setback in the parliamentary behavior and ethics, have also contributed to the ineffectiveness of legislative control over administration in India.

ANSWER: 1, 2, 4

Explanation:

Judicial Powers and Functions -

1. It can impeach the President for the violation of the Constitution.

2. It can remove the Vice-President from his office.

3. It can recommend the removal of judges (including chief justice) of the Supreme Court and the high courts, chief election commissioner, comptroller and auditor general to the president.

4. It can punish its members or outsiders for the breach of its privileges or its contempt.

Electoral Powers and Functions -

1. The Parliament participates in the election of the President (along with the state legislative assemblies) and elects the Vice-President.

2. The Lok Sabha elects its Speaker and Deputy Speaker, while the Rajya Sabha elects its Deputy Chairman.

3. The Parliament is also authorized to make laws to regulate the elections to the offices of President and Vice-President, to both the Houses of Parliament and to both the Houses of state legislature.

4. Accordingly, Parliament enacted the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Election Act (1952), the Representation of People Act (1950), the Representation of People Act (1951), etc.

Other Powers and Functions -

1. It serves as the highest deliberative body in the country.

2. It discusses various issues of national and international significance.

3. It approves all the three types of emergencies (national, state and financial) proclaimed by the President.

4. It can create or abolish the state legislative councils on the recommendation of the concerned state legislative assemblies.

5. It can increase or decrease the area, alter the boundaries and change the names of states of the Indian Union.

6. It can regulate the organization and jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and high courts and can establish a common high court for two or more states.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

Financial Powers and Functions


• No tax can be levied or collected and no expenditure can be incurred by the Executive except under the authority and with the approval of Parliament.


• The enactment of the budget by the Parliament legalizes the receipts and expenditure of the government for the ensuing financial year.


• The Parliament also scrutinizes government spending and financial performance with the help of its financial committees.


• They bring out the cases of illegal, irregular, unauthorized, improper usage and wastage and extravagance in public expenditure.

Parliamentary control over the Executive in financial matters operates in 2 stages -

1. Budgetary control i.e., control before the appropriation of grants through the enactment of the budget.

2. Post-budgetary control i.e., control after the appropriation of grants through the three financial committees.


• The budget is based on the principle of annuality, that is, the Parliament grants money to the government for one financial year.


• If the granted money is not spent by the end of the financial year, then the balance expires and returns to the Consolidated Fund of India. This is ‘rule of lapse’.


• It facilitates effective financial control by the Parliament as no reserve funds can be built without its authorization.


• However, the observance of this rule leads to heavy rush of expenditure towards the close of the financial year. This is popularly called as ‘March Rush’.

Constituent Powers and Functions -


• The Parliament is vested with the powers to amend the Constitution by way of addition, variation or repeal of any provision.


• The major part of the Constitution can be amended by the Parliament with special majority, that is, a majority (that is, more than 50 per cent) of the total membership of each House and a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting in each House.


• Some other provisions of the Constitution can be amended by the Parliament with simple majority, that is, a majority of the members present and voting in each House of Parliament.


• Only a few provisions of the Constitution can be amended by the Parliament (by special majority) and with the consent of at least half of the state Legislatures (by simple majority).


• The power to initiate the process of the amendment of the Constitution (in all the three cases) lies exclusively in the hands of the Parliament and not the state legislature.


• There is only one exception, that is, the state legislature can pass a resolution requesting the Parliament for the creation or abolition of the legislative council in the state.


• Based on the resolution, the Parliament makes an act for amending the Constitution to that effect.


• The constituent power of the Parliament is not unlimited and is subject to the ‘basic structure’ of the Constitution.

ANSWER: 1, 2, 3

Explanation:

Legislative Powers and Functions -


• The primary function of Parliament is to make laws for the governance of the country.


• It has exclusive power to make laws on the subjects in the Union List (which at present has 100 subjects, originally 97 subjects) and on the residuary subjects (that is, subjects not enumerated in any of the 3 lists).


• With regard to Concurrent List (which has at present 52 subjects, originally 47 subjects), the Parliament has overriding powers, i.e. the law of Parliament prevails over the law of the state legislature in case of a conflict between the two.

The Constitution also empowers the Parliament to make laws on the subjects enumerated in the State List under the following 5 abnormal circumstances -

1. When Rajya Sabha passes a resolution to that effect.

2. When a proclamation of National Emergency is in operation.

3. When two or more states make a joint request to the Parliament.

4. When necessary to give effect to international agreements, treaties and conventions.

5. When President’s Rule is in operation in the state.


• All the ordinances issued by the president (during the recess of the Parliament) must be approved by the Parliament within six weeks after its reassembly.


• An ordinance becomes inoperative if it is not approved by the parliament within that period.


• The Parliament makes laws in a skeleton form and authorises the Executive to make detailed rules and regulations within the framework of the parent law.


• This is known as delegated legislation or executive legislation or subordinate legislation. Such rules and regulations are placed before the Parliament for its examination.

Executive Powers and Functions -


• The Executive is responsible to the Parliament for its policies and acts.


• The Parliament exercises control over the Executive through question-hour, zero hour, half-an-hour discussion, short duration discussion, calling attention motion, adjournment motion, no-confidence motion, censure motion and other discussions.


• It also supervises the activities of the Executive with the help of its committees.


• The ministers are collectively responsible to the Parliament in general and to the Lok Sabha in particular.


• As a part of collective responsibility, there is individual responsibility, that is, each minister is individually responsible for the efficient administration of the ministry under his charge.


• The council of ministers can be removed from office by the Lok Sabha by passing a no-confidence motion.

The Lok Sabha can also express lack of confidence in the government in the following ways -

1. By not passing a motion of thanks on the President’s inaugural address.

2. By rejecting a money bill.

3. By passing a censure motion or an adjournment motion.

4. By defeating the government on a vital issue.

5. By passing a cut motion.


• Therefore, “the first function of Parliament can be said to be to select the group which is to form the government, support and sustain it in power so long as it enjoys its confidence, and to expel it when it ceases to do so, and leave it to the people to decide at the next general election.”

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:

• The scheme of Youth Parliament was started on the recommendation of the Fourth All India Whips Conference.

Its objectives are -

1. To acquaint the younger generations with practices and procedures of Parliament.

2. To imbibe the spirit of discipline and tolerance cultivating character in the minds of youth.

3. To inculcate in the student community the basic values of democracy and to enable them to acquire a proper perspective on the functioning of democratic institutions.


• The ministry of parliamentary affairs provides necessary training and encouragement to the states in introducing the scheme.

The idea of organizing “Youth Parliaments’ in educational institutions was conceived by the Fourth All India Whips Conference held at Bombay in 1962 which made, inter-alia, the following recommendation -


• “This Committee recommends that Government should encourage holding of Mock Parliament in educational institutions and through Panchayats in rural areas.”


• The scheme wishes to strengthen the roots of democracy, inculcate healthy habits of discipline, tolerance of views of others and to enable the student community to have better awareness about the working of Parliament.


• The scheme gives financial assistance to the State Governments/Governments of Union Territories to organize similar competitions in their recognized schools.

ANSWER: Sikkim

Explanation:

• Total members in Rajya Sabha are 245.


• Total members in Lok Sabha are 545.


• UP has highest number of seats in Lok Sabha.


• Sikkim, Mizoram, Nagaland have just 1 seat in Lok Sabha.

Following is the allocation of seats of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha amongst States and Uts -

Sr. No.	States and UTs	Number of Seats in Rajya Sabha	Number of Seats in Lok Sabha
1.	Andhra Pradesh	11	25
2.	Arunachal Pradesh	1	2
3.	Assam	7	14
4.	Bihar	16	40
5.	Chhattisgarh	5	11
6.	Goa	1	2
7.	Gujarat	11	26
8.	Haryana	5	10
9.	Himanchal Prasdesh	3	4
10.	Jammu & Kahmir	4	6
11.	Bihar	6	15
12.	Karnataka	12	28
13.	Kerala	9	20
14.	Madhya Pradesh	11	29
15.	Maharashtra	19	48
16.	Manipur	1	2
17.	Meghalaya	1	2
18.	Mizoram	1	1
19.	Nagaland	1	1
20.	Odisha	10	21
21.	Punjab	7	13
22.	Rajasthan	10	25
23.	Sikkim	1	1
24.	Tamil Nadu	18	39
25.	Telangana (Newest state)	7	172
26.	Tripura	1	5
27.	Uttarakhand	3	80
28.	Uttar Pradesh	31	42
29.	West Bengal	16	1
30.	Andaman and Nicobar Islands (UT)	-	1
31.	Chandigarh (UT)	-	1
32.	Dadra and Nagar Haveli (UT)	-	1
33.	Daman and Diu (UT)	-	7
34.	Delhi (The National Capital Territory of Delhi) (UT)	3	1
35.	Lakshadweep (UT)	-	1
36.	Puducherry (UT)	1	2

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

• Malvankar was the first speaker.


• The current speaker is Sumitra Mahajan of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who is presiding over the 16th Lok Sabha.


• She is the second woman to hold the office, after her immediate predecessor Meira Kumar of Indian National Congress.

Former speakers are -

1. Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar 1952-1956 (Died).

2. M. Ananthasayanam Ayyangar 1956-1962.

3. Hukam Singh 1962-1967.

4. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy 1967-1969 (Resigned).

5. Gurdial Singh Dhillon 1969-1975 (Resigned).

6. Bali Ram Bhagat 1976-1977.

7. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy 1977-1977 (Resigned).

8. K. S. Hegde 1977-1980.

9. Bal Ram Jakhar 1980-1989.

10. Rabi Ray 1989-1991.

11. Shivraj V. Patil 1991-1996.

12. P. A. Sangma 1996 -1998.

13. G. M. C. Balayogi 1998-2002 (Died).

14. Manohar Gajanan Joshi 2002-2004.

15. Somnath Chatterjee 2004-2009.

16. Meira Kumar 2009-2014.

17. Sumitra Mahajan 2014-till date.

ANSWER: 4 1 2 3

Explanation:

Some of the entries in the table of precedence are as follows -

1. President.

2. Vice-President.

3. Prime Minister.

4. Governors of states within their respective states.

5. Former presidents.

A. Deputy Prime Minister.

6. Chief Justice of India.

Speaker of Lok Sabha.

7. Cabinet Ministers of the Union.

Chief Ministers of States within their respective States.

Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission.

Former Prime Ministers.

Leaders of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha.

7A. Holders of Bharat Ratna decoration.

8. Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and High Commissioners of Commonwealth countries accredited to India.

Chief Ministers of States outside their respective States.

Governors of States outside their respective States.

9. Judges of Supreme Court.

9A. Chairperson, Union Public Service Commission.

Chief Election Commissioner.

Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

10. Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha.

Deputy Chief Ministers of States.

Deputy Speaker, Lok Sabha.

Members of the Planning Commission.

Ministers of State of the Union (and any other Minister in the Ministry of Defense for defense matters).

11. Attorney General of India.

Cabinet Secretary.

Lieutenant Governors within their respective Union Territories.

ANSWER: Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation:

• The order in this Table of Precedence is meant for State and Ceremonial occasions and has no application in the day-to-day business of Government.


• Persons in the Table of Precedence will take rank in order of the number of the articles in the table.


• The entries in the same article are arranged alphabetically.


• Those included in the same article will take precedence inter se according to date of entry into that article.


• However, where the dignitaries of different States and Union Territories included in the same article are present at a function outside their States or Union Territories and there is difficulty in ascertaining their dates of entry, they may be assigned precedence inter se in the alphabetical order of the name of States and Union Territories concerned after those whose precedence is determined according to date of entry into that article.


• But, Former Prime Ministers will take precedence over the Cabinet Ministers of the Union and the Leaders of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.


• The Chief Ministers of States within their respective States will take precedence over the Cabinet Ministers of the Union in official functions held in the respective States.


• Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and High Commissioners of Commonwealth countries accredited to India will en bloc rank above Governors of States outside their respective States.


• Governors of States outside their respective States will en bloc rank above Chief Ministers of States outside their respective States.