Figure 1: No Copyright Infringement Intended

Context:

• Congress chief whip moved a privilege motion against Culture Minister over the appointment chairperson of the National Monuments Authority.

About the Whip:

• A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature.
• This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology or the will of their donors or constituents.
• Whips are the party’s “enforcers”.
• A legislator may face disqualification proceedings if she/he disobeys the whip of the party unless the number of lawmakers defying the whip is 2/3rds of the party’s strength in the house.
• Disqualification is decided by the Speaker/Chairman of the house.

Limitation of Whip:

• There are some cases such as Presidential elections where whips cannot direct a Member of Parliament (MP) or Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) to vote in a particular fashion.

 

About Privilege Motion:

• All Members of Parliament (MPs) enjoy rights and immunities, individually and collectively, so that they can discharge their duties and functions effectively.
• Any instance when these rights and immunities are disregarded by any member of Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha is an offence, called ‘breach of privilege’, which is punishable under the Laws of Parliament.
• Any member from either house can move a notice in the form of a motion against the member who he/she thinks is guilty of the breach of privilege.
• Both Houses of the Parliament reserve the right to punish any action of contempt (not necessarily breach of privilege) which is against its authority and dignity, as per the laws.

 

Rules concerning the privilege Motion:

• The rules governing the privilege are mentioned in the Rule No 222 in Chapter 20 of the Lok SabhaRule Book and Rule 187 in Chapter 16 of the Rajya Sabha 
• The rules explain that any member of the House may, with the consent of the Speaker or the Chairperson, raise a question involving an incident that he or she considers a breach of privilege either of a member or of the House or of a committee.

 

Role of Speaker and Chairperson:

• The speaker of Lok Sabha and the Chairperson of Rajya Sabha are the first level of scrutiny of a privilege motion in the two Houses of Parliament.
• They can either take a decision on the privilege motion or can also refer it to the privileges committee of Parliament.

 

About Privilege Committee:

• It is a standing Committee.
• The Speaker of Lok Sabha nominates a committee of privileges consisting of 15 members of parliament from each party.
• The report prepared by the committee is submitted to the House for its consideration. 

 

History of Privilege Motions in Parliament:

• Most of the privilege motions passed in the Parliament in the past have been rejected. Penal actions have been recommended only in a few, so far.
• Among the most significant privilege motions passed so far was in 1978 against Indira Gandhi. Indira Gandhi, who had just won the Lok Sabha elections from Chikmagalur, was expelled from the House
• In 1976, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy was expelled from Rajya Sabha for bringing disgrace to Parliament through his interviews to foreign publications.

 

Constitution on Parliamentary Privileges:

• Parliamentary privileges are special rights, immunities and exemptions enjoyed by the two Houses of Parliament, their committees and their members.
• The Constitution also extends 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.
• The parliamentary privileges do not extend to the Presidentwho is also an integral part of the Parliament. Article 361 of the Constitution provides for privileges for the President.
• Article 105 of the Constitution expressly mentions two privileges, that is, freedom of speech in Parliament and right of publication of its proceedings.
• Apart from the privileges as specified in the Constitution, the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, provides for freedom from arrest and detention of members under civil process during the continuance of the meeting of the House or of a committee thereof and forty days before its commencement and forty days after its conclusion.

 

About National Monument Authority:

• National Monuments Authority is a statutory body set up as per the provisions of Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2010.
• It functions under the Ministry of Culture.
• Its task is to protect and preserve centrally protected monuments and sites.
• Construction activities in such protected sites require permission from the NMA.
• The Director General of Archaeological Survey of India is the ex-officio chairperson of the NMA.