Undermining Parliament

Mismanagement has created dangerous precedents

The Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die last week after the least productive Budget session in 18 years. The Lower House functioned for just 4 per cent of its time in the second half of the session; even the Rajya Sabha functioned for less than 10 per cent of its scheduled time. The Finance Bill, the single-most important piece of regular legislation in any given year, was passed in 18 minutes and without even the slightest whiff of debate. In essence, budgetary demands from 99 Union ministries and departments and over 200 amendments were not subject to parliamentary discussion, with the Speaker using the “guillotine” to shut off debate. As a consequence, many major changes in the Finance Bill were not presented clearly to the public. Sharp increases in the salaries, daily allowances and pensions of MPs should have been, for example, discussed as the country watched. Even more disturbing was the fact that the Finance Bill retrospectively repealed a section of the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act, or FCRA, which in effect legalised all foreign funding to Indian political parties for the past 42 years. This needed far more public examination.

While some responsibility must be borne on those who seek to protest in Parliament — such as, in particular, members from Andhra Pradesh seeking special status for the state — the primary responsibility must lie with the government’s floor managers and with those in the chair of the two Houses. There is little doubt that the government has set out to minimise any debate about its proposals. For example, a series of far-reaching pieces of legislation such as the Aadhaar Act have been deemed to be Money Bills and thus not requiring a majority in the Rajya Sabha. Further, such Bills are not even being discussed in either House, since the guillotine is being used in the Lok Sabha and they are being noted as returned by the Rajya Sabha without even being tabled there. This is a serious breach in the constitutional working of Parliament. The purpose of the guillotine is to ensure that lengthy debate does not cause the government to run out of money. It is not to prevent any discussion of Money Bills — or of other legislation. Over the past few years, the working of Parliament has been undermined to such a degree that there is little difference between it and one of the more poorly-run assemblies.

Most disturbing is the tendency of late to adjourn the Lok Sabha within a minute of its sitting. There is little doubt as to what this is supposed to achieve. Some parties in the Opposition have agreed to a no-confidence motion be moved against the government. Whether or not the government has the numbers to survive is not the point. Such a motion normally takes precedence over much other House business. Yet the Speaker has denied that the House is in order and thus refused to admit the no-confidence motion. In other words, the government is refusing to submit itself to the only form of continuous accountability built into the system. This is a dangerous and worrying precedent, quite against convention and completely against the rules. It has opened the door to a future government that has lost the confidence of the House continuing to rule illegally.