The Journal of Parliamentary Information
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THE JOURNAL OF PARLIAMENTARY INFORMATION VOLUME XXXIV, No. 2 JUNE, 1988 THE JOURNAL OF PARLIAMENTARY INFORMATION Editor: DR SUBHASH C. KAsHYAP The Journal of ParJiamentaIY Infonnation. a quarterly publication brought out by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, aims at the dissemination of authoritative infonnation about the practices and procedures that are continuously being evolved in Indian and foreign u,gislatures. The Journal also purports to serve as an authentic recorder of important parliament8l)' events and activities and provides a useful forum to members of Parlia- ment and State Legislatures and other experts for the expression of their views and opinions thereby contributing to the development and streng- thening of parliamentmy' democracy in the counby. The Editor would welcome articles on constitutional, parliamentmy and subjects for publication in the Journal. A modest, token hono- rarium1. is payable for articles etc. accepted for publication in the Journal. The articles should be type-written on only one side of the paper. Latest standard books are reviewed in the Journal by members of Parliament and scholars. Books intended for review- should be sent to the Editor. The views expressed in the signed articles etc. published in the Journal are those of the authors and the Lok Sabha Secretariat does not accept any responsibility for them. Copyright for the articles, notes and reviews published in the Journal vests with the Lok Sabha Secretariat and prior written pennission from the Editor should be obtained for the reproduuion of any material from the Journal. A copy of the publication in which an article is so reproduced should be sent to the Editor. COl1'espondence concerning the subscription and sales should be addressed to Sales Branch, Lok Sabha Secretariat, Sansadiya Soudha, New- DeIhi-ll0001. PI;ce per copy: Rs. 16.00 Annual Subscription: Rs. eo.OO THE JOURNAL OF PARLIAMENTARY INFORMATION VOL. XXXIV, NO.2 JUNE 1988 CONTENTS PAGE EDITORIAL NoTE ... 149 ARTICLES Party Whips, Partlamentary Prlvirege and Anti-Defection Law 151 -Subhash C. Kashyap Political and Economic Democracy in India 1n -Ch. Narasimha Swamy Wit AND HUMOUR IN PARLIAMENT 186 PARLIAMENTARY EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES Parliamentary Delegations visiting India 191 Indian Parliamentary Delegation going Abroad 193 Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and Training 193 PRIVILEGE ISSUES 195 PROCEDURAL MATTERS 206 PARLIAMENTARY AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS 210 DOCUMENTS OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND PARLIAMENTARY INTEREST The Constitution (Fifty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1987 228 (II) PAGE SESSIONAL REVIEW Lok Sabha ... 230 Rajya Sabha ... 245, State Legislatures 253 Union Territorie.s ... 255 RECENT LITERATURE OF PARLIAMENTARY INTEREST 256 ApPENDICES I. Statement showing the work transacted during the Tenth Session of the Eighth Lok Sabha. 261 II. Statement showing the work transacted during the Hundred and Forty-fifth Session of Rajya Sabha. 266 III.. Statement showing the activities of the Legislatures of the States and Union Territories during the period 1 January to 31 March 1988. ... 270 IV. List of Bills ~ by the Houses of Parliament and assented to by President during the period 1 January to 31 March 1988.... 275 V. List of Bills passed by the State Legislatures and Union Territories during the period 1 January to 31 March 1988. 276 VI. Ordinances issued by the Central and the State Governments during the period 1 January to 31 March 1988. ... 281 VII. Party Position In Lok Sabha, Ralya Sabha and Legislatures of States and Union Territc).Jies. ... 286 EDITORIAL NOTE During the ninth session of the Lok Sabha, a question of privilege arising out· of the Chief Whip of the ruling party issuing a whip inside the House to two members generated considerable controversy and arguments on points· of constitutional, legal and parliamentary interest, with particular reference to the institution of the party whip vis a vis members' privilege of freedom of speech and vote and provisions of the anti-defection law. The first article in this issue discusses the matter at some length. In the second article, Shri Ch. Narasimha Swamy takes stock of the perfor- mance of Indian polity in the matter of achieving the goal of political and economic democracy since the Constitution came into effect. In order to establish clean, responsible and constructive politics in the country, the author suggests inter alia a Code of Conduct for all political parties. He also feels that the democratic decentralisation of power or the idea of Village Swaraj as conceived by Mahatma Gandhi still offers a panacea for many of the political ills that mark the present political system. Shri Swamy lays great stress on the upliftment of the village as the basic unit of Indian economy. He calls for evolving a comprehensive national policy on rural reconstruction besides incorporation of right to work and guarantee of housing to rural poor in the Fundamental Rights chapter of the Constitution. The author .reiterates the principle repeatedly stressed by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru that mere politi- cal freedom will flot be meaningful without our achieving the objective of economic democracy. The issue carries the. other regular features, viz. wit and humour in Parlia- ment, parliamentary events and activities, privilege issues, procedural matters, parliamentary and constitutional developments, documents of constitutional and parliamentary interest, a brief resume of the sessions of the two Houses of Parliament and State Legislatures and recent literature of parliamentary interest. We extend our heartiesNelicitations to Sarvashri J.D. Rymbai, A. Nyamnyei and Ratimohan Jamatia on their election as Deputy Speaker of Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura Legislative Assemblies. respectively. We are constantly endeavouring to make this Journal more useful and informative. and would always welcome suggestions for further improvement. -Subhash C. Kashyap 149 1 PARTY WHIPS, PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGE AND ANTI-DEFECTION LAW SUB HASH C. KASHYAP During the ninth session of the present Lok Sabha, for the first time in the annals of our parliamentary history, a question of privilege arising out of the action of the Chief Whip of the ruling party came up before the House. It generated a great deal of heat and controversy and raised several pOints of considerable constitutional, legal and parliamentary procedural interest. Facts of the case: After the Question Hour on 17 November 1987, a member (Shri Dinesh Goswami) from Assam sought to raise a point regarding setting up of polling booths for Nagaland elections at places within the territorial jurisdiction of Assam. In the din that followed, tt:tere were many interruptions and several members joined issues with each other. A great deal of what ~II said-with several members sPeaking at the same time and all of them dOing so without Speaker's permission-could not be heard or/and did not go on record ur1der Speaker's orders. In the midst of continuous interruptions and noisy scenes emanating from all sides, the Speaker found it difficult to restore order. He observed that what was happening in the ~ was shameful and deplor- able and he had no respect for that kind of "misdeeds and hooliganism". After the Speaker's admonition and with the Minister of Home Affairs agreeing to clarify matters in regard to the main issue raised by Shri Goswami, the tension and turmoil in the House appeared to be subsiding and the House seemed to be returning to normal orderly business when there were some sharp exchanges between two members, Shri Ram Dhan and Professor K.K. Tewari. The Speaker said he did not hear the words exchanged between Professor Tewari and Shri Ram Dhan but he did see Professor Tewarl getting up and moving towards Shri Ram Dhan menacingly and threatening him. The Speaker observed that the two moved towards each other and showed blows. Under the circumstances, the Speaker finally adjourned the House to meet again at 1400 hours. Wher. the House reassembled in the afternoon, the Speaker allowed the two members (Shri Ram phan and Professor K.K. Tewari) to make personal explanations. Both the members stated that they had no bad intentions towards each other. Shri Ram Dhan said that he had only objected to improper behaviour towards him. Professor K.K. Tewari clarified that he had been 151 152 The Journal of Pilr/iamentary Information respectful and friendly to all his colleagues in the House and that he did not mean to threaten Shri Ram Dhan in any way. The Speaker, thereafter, ruled that the matter could be treated as closed and allowed to rest there. Notwith- standIng the Speaker's ruling, however, several members including Sarvashri Ram Dhan and Raj Kumar Rai-both suspended members of the 'rullng Congress(l) Party-persisted in defying the Chair and obstructed the proceed- ings of tlie House. They insisted that Chair should demand from Professor Tewari regrets and apologies for his objectionable conduct. Unless that was done, they appeared to be bent upon not allowing the House to function. The Speaker pleaded with the members to maintain order and requested them to take their seats so that the business of the House could be transacted smoothly. Several members, hO\Never, continued to stand and sought to argue with the Chair on the merits of the ruling. At this point, the Chief Whip of the Congress(l) Party (Shri H.K.l. Bhagat) issued written "whips" to both the members on the floor of the HoLise. It was obviously done on the spur of the moment. The "whips" were written in hand and asked the members "not to proceed further" and to obey the ruling 'of the Speaker. There was no prece- dent of such use of the whip anywhere in the Legislatures in India or in U.K. The text of the communications was as follows: Mr. Ram Ohan, You are still in the Congress Party. I would ask you as Chief Whip of the Congress Party not to proceed further and accept the ruling of the Speaker.