Praxis of Indian Parliament Is a Situational Handbook for the Use of Officers of Rajya Sabha Secretariat
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© RAJYA SABHA SECRETARIAT C O N T E N T S PAGES Preface by Dr. V.K. Agnihotri, Secretary-General, Rajya Sabha (i)-(ii) Introduction (iii)-(xi) HOUSE MATTERS 1. Convening a Session of Parliament 1-14 2. Managing a split Session 15-23 3. Oath or Affirmation 24-33 4. References by the Chairman 34-63 5. Maiden Speeches by the Newly Elected/Nominated Members 64-68 6. Issue of Supplementary List of Business 69-74 7. Suspension of Question Hour 75-87 8. Short Notice Questions 88-95 9. Half-an-Hour Discussion 96-103 10. Calling Attention 104-111 11. Intervention by Ministers in the House 112-116 12. Statements by Ministers in the House 117-125 13. Announcement of Government policy during Session and Inter-Session 126-134 14. Procedures pertaining to Bills: From Listing to Assent 135-167 15. Procedures in respect of Ordinances 168-180 16. Return of Bills by the President for reconsideration of the Houses 181-188 17. Lapsing of Bills on completion of tenure/dissolution of Lok Sabha 189-199 18. Short Duration Discussions 200-207 19. Initiating discussion on various types of debates 208-232 20. Authentication of Documents by Private Members 233-256 PAGES 21. Discussion on Motion of Thanks on President’s Address 257-273 22. Questions of Privilege 274-297 23. Suspension of a Member 298-312 24. Conversion of the Class of Notice/Motion into another 313-318 25. Special Mentions 319-325 26. Ministers and Membership of Parliament 326-333 27. Personal explanation by Members/Ministers 334-338 28. Motion for modification/annulment of subordinate legislation 339-344 29. Raising of State matters in the House 345-354 30. Powers of Chairman, Rajya Sabha, in deliberative functions of the House 355-381 COMMITTEE MATTERS 31. Standing (House) Committees and Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committees (Rajya Sabha) 385-478 32. Reference of Bills to Parliamentary Committees 479-494 33. Referring a matter to Committee on Ethics 495-503 34. Withdrawal of cases referred to a Committee 504-506 Index 509-549 PREFACE The Praxis of Indian Parliament is a situational handbook for the use of officers of Rajya Sabha Secretariat. The business of Parliament is very sensitive and volatile. Whether it is in the Council House or a Committee or the support system in the Secretariat, there are situations arising all the time needing immediate attention and optimal solutions. In particular, the job of the Presiding Officer of a Legislative Body enjoins thinking on one’s feet. With the passage of time, the Presiding Officers in India are spending more time literally standing in order to ensure smooth conduct of Business in the House. In the Rajya Sabha, on a typical sitting day of a Session, it all begins very early with a flurry of activities. To start with, the Chairman goes over the business of the day with his team of officials and also attempts to make an assessment of the ‘weather conditions’. Thereafter, the Chairman, generally, has an informal meeting with the leaders of political parties to get a clearer picture of the shape of things to come. Issues are raised and positions are taken, while rules get quoted and interpreted. Just before the beginning of the sitting, the situation needs to be reviewed and contextualised with the rules as well as past practice and precedents. Each day gives rise to its own unique challenges. With the sitting of the Council House scheduled to begin at 11.00 A.M., there is practically no time available to pore over tomes of procedural manuals and the databases of debates and discussions. The work in the Committees of Parliament as well as in various sections of the Secretariat, which support the working of the House and the Committees as well as look after the facilities and amenities provided to the Members, is equally delicate and requires speedy resolution. The Praxis of Indian Parliament : Notes on Procedures in the Council of States attempts to deal succinctly with some of the unique as well as recurring situations, which the Presiding Officer, Secretary-General and other senior officers of the Secretariat encounter on a daily basis. In most cases, particularly in regard to the matters pertaining to the Council House, it provides a quick referencer, which could be flipped through at the last minute before entering the Chamber. It is also a practical guide for taking informed decisions on administrative issues, which the Presiding Officer and his Secretariat are required to resolve from time to time. The Praxis has been divided into two volumes, one relating to the matters concerning the Council and its Committees and the other dealing with (i) (ii) administration and management. In addition to being situational, it is also evolutionary. Thus, on the one hand, it takes into account significant situations which have arisen in the recent past. On the other hand, the practice and precedents are also time-constrained. It would, therefore, in the nature of things an evolving document, require periodic additions and revisions. This documentation, it needs to be underlined, is meant for official use only and should not be quoted as an authority. The making of this documentation has resulted in several collateral benefits. It has indeed been a great learning experience for all those who were involved in putting together the material relating to different situations conceptualised and captured in the two volumes of this book. Culling out material from different sources to fit the situational perspective and distil it into a usable form, has put the knowledge, expertise and experience of a large number of officers and staff to a stiff test. As a result, it has generated a better understanding of the nature of our work and also, on several occasions, yielded new insights and perceptions. It would require continuous flow of ideas, insights, instances and suggestions to enrich and expand the scope of volume. All concerned would render valuable service to the evolving corpus of Parliamentary procedure and practice by offering their thoughts for improving and updating its contents. This publication is an organisational initiative. I would, however, like to place on record my special appreciation of the work done by Shri N. C. Joshi, Secretary, and Shri Sumit Ganguly, Joint Secretary, since a large number of situations, which relate to the working of the Council House, were their concern. I would also like to compliment Shri G. C. Miglani, Joint Secretary (Retired), for his efforts. Even though, in terms of number of Chapters, his contribution may not have been very large, but the bulkiest chapter of them all, on the working of Committees, was put together by him. I am also appreciative of the work put in by Shri S. N. Sahu, Joint Secretary, in assisting me in the conversion of original Notes on Procedures into Chapters for this publication, with a great deal of enthusiasm and diligence. Above all, I am grateful to His Excellency Mohammad Hamid Ansari, Hon’ble Vice-President of India and Chairman of Rajya Sabha, for the ideation of the project and his constant support and encouragement in its execution. NEW DELHI; V. K. AGNIHOTRI Fabruary 2011 Secretary-General Rajya Sabha INTRODUCTION The two volumes of The Praxis of Indian Parliament: Notes on Procedures in the Council of States are divided into three parts. The first Volume deals with situations relating to the Council House and the Committees of the Council of States. The second Volume is devoted to the administrative procedures managed by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat. In this Volume, the first Part relating to situations arising in the Council House contains 30 chapters, which have been arranged, as far as possible, in the order of the List of Business as well as in the descending order of frequency with which the situations arise. The second part pertains to the procedure relating to the work of the Committee and has four chapters. The schematic lay out of material in all the chapters provides a description of the relevant rules and procedures in the first instance, followed by a discussion of practice and precedents. The first chapter titled Convening a Session of Parliament deals with the constitutional provisions and Rules of Parliament pertaining to convening of its session. It further elucidates the Ministerial and Secretarial level preparations that go into convening a session. When a legislative body adjourns sine die, it adjourns for an indefinite period without appointing a day on which it would assemble again. Although, technically, adjournment sine die does not mean that the session has concluded but, in India, when the Parliament adjourns sine die usually the session concludes thereafter. However, there have been instances when the session of the House has been reconvened even after it has been adjourned sine die. A session may also be adjourned to a specified date with the sittings resuming on that date. Such Sessions are generally described as split sessions. Chapter 2 on Managing a Split Session, besides giving examples of split sessions in India, also elucidates the procedural impact of such sessions on different aspects of the functioning of the House. Chapter 3 pertains to Oath or Affirmation. It is an important procedure that enables a Member to perform his duties as a Member of the House. A Member is entitled to sit and vote in the House and can function as Member of the Committee only after making an Oath or Affirmation. Constitutional provisions relating to making oath have been clearly delineated besides, Rules & Procedures (iii) (iv) and rulings from the Chair governing the practice. The details of the procedure such as the format, timing, modalities, language, etc.