Parliament privileges

The privileges provided to individual members of the parliament/state legislatures and the union and state legislatures collectively secure the autonomy and effectiveness of the actions taken by them. These privileges help maintain the authority of the legislatures and secure the members of the houses from any obstruction in their discharge of actions. If these privileges are ignored, this will not only impede in proper exercise of the legislative functions but also undermine the efficacy of the legislatures.

The issue of codification of parliamentary privileges was raised in Keshav Singh’s Case (Special Reference No. 1 of 1964 under Article 143, AIR 1965 SC 745) where the court discussed the concerns of absolute powers of the legislature and the need for codification to give clarity to the uncertainty around the privileges. Similarly, Justice Subba Rao in Searchlight I (MSM Sharma v. Sri Krishna Sinha, AIR 1959 SC395) strongly emphasised on the need for codification of privileges.

These cases highlighted that in order to codify these privileges, adequate legislative actions and political are necessary. Both an act of the relevant legislature and amendment to the Indian Constitution will be the first step towards codification. For instance, in order to codify the privilege to punish for contempt of the legislature, merely enacting a law in that regard would be ultra vires the Constitution because contempt of court and not the contempt of legislature is the part of Article 19 (2). Hence, a Constitutional amendment in that regard is necessary. Further, these codified laws will have to pass the judicial scrutiny as well.

Further, Press Commission and National Commission to review the working of the Constitution (NCRWC) recommended that the privileges be defined and delimited for free and independent functioning of the legislatures. This will not only strengthen the rule of law but also tackle the ambiguity and the abuse of the privileges. These privileges are in place to facilitate the Members of the Legislatures in doing their work to advance the interests of the people and not to be used against the people or to unreasonably curb the freedom of press.

Hence, not only Articles 105 and 194 but also Rule No 222 in Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rule Book and correspondingly Rule 187 in Chapter 16 of the Rajya Sabha rulebook along with Parliamentary conventions, Statutory provisions (like Parliamentary Proceedings (Protection of Publication) Act, 1977) and Judicial interpretations are to be considered while codifying these privileges.