Parliamentary privileges

Why in the News?

The leader of Opposition was suspended from the Lok Sabha for alleged misconduct and the matter is referred to the Privileges committee for investigation.

Parliamentary Privileges:

1. Parliamentary Privileges are certain rights and immunities enjoyed by the Members of the Parliament to enable them to function effectively in their legislative roles.
2. The object of parliamentary privilege is to safeguard the freedom, the authority and the dignity of Parliament.
3. They are enjoyed by individual members and by each House collectively for the protection of its members and the vindication of its own authority and dignity.
4. They do not exempt the members from the obligations to the society which apply to other citizens.
5. There are no specific law governing Parliamentary privileges and hence are a mix of provisions in the Constitution, statutes, House procedures and conventions.
   1. Constitution specifies that MPs have freedom of speech and immunity from judicial proceedings against anything they say or votes they cast in Parliament (Article 105).
   2. Code of Civil Procedure protects the MPs from arrest and detention under civil cases during a parliamentary session, and for a specified period before it begins and after it ends.
   3. Parliamentary rules specify that authorities should immediately inform the Speaker of Lok Sabha and Chairman of Rajya Sabha about MPs’ arrests, releases and convictions.
6. How does Parliament act on breach of privilege?
   1. The House of Parliament being the guardian of its privileges used three mechanisms to decide upon the matters of breach of Parliamentary privileges:
      1. A member raises the issue on the floor of the House, and then the House decides on it.
      2. The house of the Parliament sends the matter to the Privileges committee for detailed investigation. The committee recommends to the House a course of action which is then accepted by it.
      3. MPs can present the matters of breach of privilege to the notice of the presiding officers of their respective Houses who can then decide whether or not to send the case to the committee of privileges.
   2. Breach of privileges can be brought for an outsider breaching the privilege of a MP/ the house or against another MP also.
7. The Privilege Committee:
   1. Consists of 15 members nominated by the Speaker.
   2. Its function is to examine every question involving breach of privilege of the House or of the members of any Committee thereof referred to it by the House or by the Speaker.
   3. It determines with reference to the facts of each case whether a breach of privilege is involved or not.
   4. The Speaker may refer to the Committee any petition regarding disqualification of a member on ground of defection for making a preliminary inquiry and submitting a report to him.
   5. The committee has the power to recommend to the House for its consideration the issuance of admonitions, reprimands, suspension and, in rare cases, expulsion from the House.
   6. Parliamentary convention: A MP against whom a privilege motion has been moved gives an unqualified apology then the issue is allowed to rest.

Link: Complaint against Raghav Chadha now with RS Privileges Committee - The Hindu