PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGES
PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGES
WHY IN
NEWS?
· The Chairman of Rajya Sabha has
stated that Members of Parliament have a wrong belief that during the session
they have a privilege from action taken by the investigating agencies.
· He highlighted that as lawmakers, the
member must respect the law and legal procedures.
·
He
mentioned that Under Article 105 of the Indian Constitution, Members of
Parliament enjoy certain privileges so that they can perform their
parliamentary duties without any obstruction.
ü A Member of Parliament cannot be
arrested in a civil case, 40 days before the beginning of the session or
committee meeting and 40 days thereafter. This privilege is already included under section
135A of the Civil Procedure Code(CPC).
ü However, in criminal matters, MPs do
not enjoy any immunity from being arrested in a criminal case during the
session.
IMPORTANCE:
What is a
parliamentary privilege?
Parliamentary
privileges, i.e. exceptional right or advantage, are granted to the members of
legislatures worldwide. Thus, in most democratic countries, the legislatures and their members
enjoy certain privileges to function effectively. Privilege though part of the
law of the land, is, to a certain extent an exemption from the ordinary law. It
would not be wrong to say that privilege is to Parliament what prerogative is
to the Crown. Just as the Crown can exercise prerogatives without help or
hindrance from Parliament or the judges, the House of the Parliament can
exercise privileges without help or hindrance from the Judges.
India is one
of those rare examples in history where representative institutions were made
available by a foreign government by slow degrees and evolved gradually.
In the
Indian context, the privileges and immunities enjoyed by Lok Sabha and Rajya
Sabha are called the parliamentary privileges.
Origin of
Parliamentary Privileges in India
· The origin of Parliamentary
privileges in India can be traced as far back as 1833 when a fourth member was added to
the governor-general’s council following the Charter Act of 1833. A new
type of legislative machinery came into existence. This laid the foundation of
an institution that ultimately grew into a full-fledged law-making body by
process of evolution.
· The official aversion to the
legislature’s privileges was diluted after the indirect election to the
legislature was provided by the Indian Council’s Act, 1909.
· The Government of India Act, 1935,
provided that there should be freedom of speech in the legislature.
· Today, some of the Privileges of
Parliament, and its members and committees, are specified in the Constitution,
and there are certain statutes and the rules of procedure of the House; others
continue to be based on the precedents of the House of Commons.
· The main articles of India’s
Constitution dealing with the privileges of Parliament are 105 and 122, and
the corresponding articles for the states are 194 and 212. Article
105 (1) of India’s Constitution provides that, subject to the provisions of the
Constitution and the rules and standing orders regulating the procedure of
Parliament, there would be freedom of speech in the Parliament.
Use of a
parliamentary privilege:
1. The exemptions, rights or immunities
provided to the members of each house of the parliament and the parliament
committees secure the independence and effectiveness of the actions taken by
them.
2. The parliamentary privileges help
maintain the dignity, authority and honour of the members of parliament.
3. The parliamentary privileges help
secure the members of the houses from any obstruction in their discharge of
actions.
Types of
Parliamentary Privileges
There are two
categories of Parliament privileges in India, the specified and
enumerated, and the recognized but unremunerated.
The First
category includes:
· Freedom of speech in each House of
Parliament
· Immunity from proceedings in any
courts regarding anything said or voted given by a member in parliament or any
committee thereof.
· Immunity from liability regarding the
publication by or under the authority of either House of Parliament, of any
report, paper, votes or proceeding of either House.
In the Second
category, fall all those privileges which were enjoyed by the House of
Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and its members and
committees, at the commencement of the Constitution of India and, would
continue to be in force unless they are modified and defined by Parliament by
law.
The Indian
parliamentary privileges are categorised into two:
1. Collective Privileges – Those privileges which are enjoyed
by the Indian Parliament as a whole.
2. Individual Privileges – Those privileges which are secured
to the members of the parliament on an individual level.
SOURCE: https://epaper.thehindu.com/Home/ShareArticle?OrgId=G13A48SH4.1&imageview=0
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