The Parliament consists of the President, the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the Council of the People (Lok Sabha). Though the President is not a member of either House of the Parliament, he is an essential part of it. He not only summons the two Houses of Parliament and dissolves the house of the People, but also gives his assent before any legislation can take effect. The two houses sit separately and are constituted on different principles.

Article-79: Constitution of Parliament.—

There shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses to be known respectively as the Council of States and the House of the People. 

Functions of the parliament

The Indian Constitution provides for a close link between the Executive and the Legislature. The Members of Council of Ministers are drawn from the Parliament and exercises the real executive power as long as it enjoys the confidence of the Lok Sabha. Thus the Parliament provides the Cabinet and also controls it.  By providing a platform it enables the representatives of the people to deliberate on the policies of the Government and on the intended legislation. It acts as an organ of information, and the information provided on the floor of the Parliament is authoritative. One of the most important functions of the Parliament is enactment of laws. It is the sole authority to authorize to raise revenue and to approve expenditure.

Rajya Sabha

It is the Upper Hose of the Parliament. The Rajya Sabha consists of two classes of members viz., nominated members and representatives of the States and UnionTerritories. The nominated members are twelve in number and are nominated by the President amongst persons having special knowledge or practical experience in the fields of literature, science, art and social service. The Constitution limits the number of seats for the States and the UnionTerritories to be not more than 238. The Parliament by law has provided for 233 seats for the States and the UnionTerritories. The total membership of the Rajya Sabha is thus 245. All the States and the UnionTerritories of Delhi and Pondicherry are represented in the Rajya Sabha. The Rajya Sabha represents the federal character of the Constitution in the Parliament. But unlike in the U.S.A. and Australia the States are not equally represented in the Rajya Sabha. The membership of state is based on the population of that State. The Rajya Sabha is a permanent body, and not subject to dissolution. One-third of its members retire every 2 years. The members are elected by the elected member of the State Legislative Assemblies for a six-year term, in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. There are no seats reserved for Scheduled Castes & Tribes in the Rajya Sabha.

Qualification for Membership of Rajya Sabha

In order to be qualified to become a member of the Rajya Sabha, a person must (1) be a citizen of India; (2) not be less than 30 years of age; and (3) have registered as a voter in any Parliamentary Constituency.

Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha

The Vice-President of India is the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. He presides over the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha as long as he does not act as the President of India during a vacancy in the Office of the President of India. In his absence the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha presides over the Rajya Sabha. The Deputy Chairman is elected by the members of the Rajya Sabha amongst themselves. The Presiding Officer of the Rajya Sabha is responsible to maintain order within the House and possess the final power to interpret the Rules of Procedure of the House.

Panel of Vice-Chairmen

There is also a panel of six Vice-Chairmen formed by the Chairman, and in case both the Chairman and DputyChariman are absent, a person from the panel presides. If none of empanelled members is available, the House elects a person from amongst its members to preside over its sittings

Special Powers ofthe Rajya Sabha

The special powers of the Rajya Sabha are in the form of initiating certain resolutions. These are,

(i)      A resolution seeking the removal of the Vice-President can originate only in the Rajya Sabha where the resolution must be passed by a majority of all the then members of the Rajya Sabha, and agreed to by the Lok Sabha.

(ii)     If the Rajya Sabha passes a resolution by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members presents and voting that it is necessary or expedient in the national interest that Parliament should make laws with respect to any matter enumerated in the State list, it shall be lawful for Parliament to make law for the whole or any part of the territory of India on that matter for a period of not more than one year. However, the Rajya Sabha by passing similar resolutions can extend the power of Parliament to legislate on a State subject, but each time for a period of not more than one year only.

If the Rajya Sabha passes a resolution by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting that it is necessary or expedient in the national interest, to create one or more all-India services, Parliament by law may provide for such service or services.

Relevance of Rajya Sabha as a Second Chamber of Indian Parliament

In a federal set up, the second chamber has a greater role to play. In India, Rajya Sabha was created by the need for giving representation is the states in the federal legislature. The relevance of Rajya Sabha as a second chamber of Indian parliament as follow:-

i)       It facilitates a second look at legislations that may, sometimes, be the results of purely political compulsions of the ruling party.

ii)      In the modern times there is always increasing demand to legislate on newer areas. Therefore, Rajya Sabha is useful in sharing the burden of the lower house.

iii)     It provides more opportunities for security and creates an enabling atmosphere for securing greater executive accountability.

iv)     It can hold debates on matters of wide ranging public issues which otherwise may not be held in Lok Sabha.

v)      It gives entry to eminent persons who have excelled in different areas of life and who may not like to face the rough electoral politics.

Thus Rajya Sabha acts as a battle ground to prevent hasty legislation and protects the interests of states at federal level.

Lok Sabha

The Lok Sabha is the popular House of the Parliament as its members are directly elected by the people. The Constitution prescribes a membership of not more than 15 representatives of the UnionTerritories and more than 12 members of the Anglo-Indian Community nominated by President, if in the opinion of the President that the Anglo-Indian Community is not adequately represented in the Lok Sabha. The Constitution empowers the Parliament to readjust the seats in the Lok Sabha on he basis of population after every census. Accordingly the Parliament has fixed the membership as 530 for the States and 13 for the UnionTerritories. Of these certain seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. In addition to the above, under Art.331, the President nominates two Anglo-Indian members to the Lok Sabha if the community is not adequately represents in the Lok Sabha. The Parliament has frozen the representation of the States and the UnionTerritories at 543 till the year 2001 A.D.

The normal tenure of the Lok Sabha is five years, but it may be dissolved earlier by the President. The 42nd Amendment Act 1976 extended the normal life of the Lok Sabha to six years, but the 44th Amendment Act 1978 has set it at five years as the original Constitution envisaged (Art.83). The life of the Lok Sabha can be extended by the Parliament beyond the five-years term, when a proclamation of emergency under Art.352 is in force. But the Parliament cannot extend the normal life of the Lok Sabha for more than one year at a time, but in any case such extension cannot continue beyond a period of six months after the proclamation comes to an end.

System of Elections to Lok Sabha

Direct Elections to Lok Sabha is held by dividing each state into territorial constituencies in such a manner that number and its population is the same for all the states. This provision does not apply to a state having population of less than six million. Within the state also the population of each constituency and number of seats allotted is same throughout the state remains the same.. Thus it ensures:

(a)     Uniformity of representation between two different states

(b)     Uniformity between different constituencies in the same state.

Reservation of Seats for scsand sts

Article 330 provides that seats shall be reserved in Lok Sabha for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and article 332(1) provides reservation of seats for them in the State Assemblies. Initially, this reservation was to last for ten years only. Article 334, as originally enacted, provided that these provisions relating to the reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes shall cease to have effect on the expiry of a period of ten years from the commencement of the Constitution. The period fixed by this article was extended after every ten years through constitutional amendments in 1960, 1969, 1980 . 1990, 2000 and 2010 Constitution (109th amendment) Bill, 2009. of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha, SCs had 79 and STs 41.

Qualification for Membership of Lok Sabha

In order to be chosen as a member of the Lok Sabha, a person must (i) be a citizen on India (ii) not be less than 25 years of age, and (iii) has registered as a voter in any Parliamentary Constituency.

Disqualifications for Membership

A person shall be disqualified for being chosen as, and for continuing as, a member of either House of the Parliament if he (a) holds any office of profit; (b) is of unsound mind; (c) voluntarily acquires the citizenship of a foreign country; (d) is an undischarged insolvent: or (e) is disqualified under any law made by the Parliament.

A member who incurs any of the disqualifications after election in deemed to have vacated his seat. A member can resign at any time. His resignation has to be accepted by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha or the Speaker of the Lok Sabha as the case may be. If members of either House remains absent for 60 days without seeking the permission of the House, the House may declare his seat vacant. Matters of disqualification of a member are decided by the President in consultation with the Election Commission, which is binding on him.

Speaker and deputy speaker of the loksabha

The Speaker is the Chief Presiding Officer of the Lok Sabha. He not only presides over its meeting but also controls its working. The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha are elected by the members of the Lok Sabha amongst themselves. When the office of the Speaker falls vacant or when the Speaker performs the duties of the Speaker. The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker remain in Office so long as they are members of the House. The Speaker continues in his Office, even after the Lok Sabha is dissolved till the newly elected Lok Sabha is constituted. The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker may be removed from their office by a resolution of the House after serving 14- day notice on them. The Speaker does not vote in the first instance, but exercises his casting vote in the case of a tie i.e. in the case of equality of votes. He does not vote in the first instance to maintain impartiality of his Office but exercises his casting vote. He does not vote in the first instance to maintain impartiality of his Office but exercises his casting vote only to remove a deadlock. He is the final authority in interpreting the Rules of Procedure of the House and possesses the final power to maintain order within the House. He has the responsibility to uphold the dignity and privileges of the House. He draws the same salary as that of the Chairman of Rajya Sabha, which is Rs.1,25, 000/- per month.

The Speaker possesses certain powers that do not belong to the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. These are as below: (i) It is the Speaker who presides over a joint sitting of the two House of the Parliament; (ii) When a Money Bill is transmitted from the Lok Sabha to the Rajya Sabha the power to certify it as Money Bill is given to the Speaker, (iii) The decision of the Speaker as to whether a Bill is Money Bill is final.

In the Lok Sabha, the lower House of the Indian Parliament, both Presiding Officers—the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker- are elected from among its members by a simple majority of members present and voting in the House. As such, no specific qualifications are prescribed for being elected the Speaker. The Constitution only requires that Speaker should be a member of the House.

Speaker and the Committees

The Committees of the House function under the overall direction of the Speaker. All such Committees are constituted by her or by the House. The Chairmen of all Parliamentary Committees are nominated by her. Any procedural problems in the functioning of the Committees are referred to her for directions. Committees like the Business Advisory Committee, the General Purposes Committee and the Rules Committee work directly under her Chairmanship. 

Speaker and Inter-Parliamentary Relations

The Speaker has certain other functions to perform as the head of the Lok Sabha. She is the ex officio President of the Indian Parliamentary Group (IPG), set up in 1949, which functions as the National Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Main Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA). In that capacity, members of various Indian Parliamentary Delegations going abroad are nominated by her after consulting the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Most often, the Speaker leads such Delegations. Besides, she is the Chairman of the Conference of Presiding Officers of Legislative Bodies in India.   

Protem speaker

Pro-tem speaker is mainly an operating and temporary speaker. To conduct the works in the centre or in state legislatives, pro-tem speaker is appointed for a limited time period. Generally in such a condition when the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies have been elected, but the vote for the speaker and deputy speaker has not taken place, the pro-tem speaker is chosen. Pro-tem speaker is chosen with the agreement of the members of the Lok Sabha and legislative assembly, so that he can carry on the activities till the permanent speaker is not chosen.

In many a situations, both the speaker and the deputy speaker posts in the House may lie vacant, (death, resignation etc.) then the tasks in the House are undertaken under the pro-tem speaker. The powers regarding the pro-tem speaker are not clarified. But this much is clear that pro-tem speaker does not have as much power as the permanent speaker has. Pro-tem speaker's duty is to conduct the works in the House properly keeping certain aims before for a limited period of time till the permanent speaker is chosen.

Special powers of the loksabha

The Lok Sabha enjoys the following powers, which are not available to the Rajya Sabha: -

(i)      A confidence or no confidence motion can be initiated and passed only in the Lok Sabha.

(ii)     Money and Financial Bills can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha cannot reject or amend a Money Bill by virtue of its legislative powers. It possesses only a recommendatory role in the passage of a Money Bill and can delay it for a maximum period of 14 days only. The Lok Sabha enjoys full legislative power in this regard.

(iii)    Under Art. 352, the Lok Sabha in a special sitting can disapprove the continuance in force of a national emergency proclaimed by the President. In such a case, the President shall revoke the national emergency.

Privileges and immunities of the parliament

Parliamentary privileges

• Parliamentary Privilege are the special rights, immunities and exemptions enjoyed by the two houses of Parliament, their committees and their members.
• Parliamentary privilege extends even to the people who are allowed to take part in the proceedings of any of the two houses of Parliament. (Note: Though President is the integral part of the Parliament, he still does not enjoy the Parliamentary Privileges.
• Reasons for these Parliamentary Privilege: i) helps to keep the independence and effectiveness of the actions of Parliament ii) also helps to keep the authority, dignity and honour iii) Helps to protect the members of the house from any obstruction in the discharge of their parliamentary responsibilities.

Parliamentary privilege classification

• Privileges that are enjoyed collectively by the House
• Privileges that are enjoyed Individually

Privileges that are enjoyed collectively by the House

• No person (either a members or outsider) can be arrested, and no legal process (civil or criminal) can be served within the precints of the House without the permission of the presiding officer.
• The Courts are prohibited to inquire into the proceedings of a House or its committees.
• It (House) can institute inquiries and order the attendance of witnesses and send for relevant papers and records.
• It has the right to receive immediate information of the arrest, detention, conviction, imprisonment and release of a member.
• It can punish members as well as outsiders for breach of its privileges or its contempt by reprimand, admonition or imprisonment (Also suspension or expulsion, in case of members)
• It can make rules to regulate its own procedure and the conduct of its business and to adjudicate upon such matters.
• It can exclude strangers form its proceedings and hold secret sittings to discuss some important matters.
• It has the right to publish its reports, debates and proceedings and also the right to prohibit others from publishing the same. The 44th Amendment Act of 1978 restored the freedom of the press to publish true reports of parliamentary proceedings without prior permission of the House. But this is not applicable in the case of a secret sitting of the House.

Privileges that are enjoyed individually

Following are the privileges that are enjoyed by the members individually:

• They cannot be arrested during the session of parliament and 40 days before the beginning and 40 days after the end of a session. This privilege is available only in civil cases and not in criminal cases or preventive detention cases.
• They have freedom of speech in Parliament. No members is liable to any proceedings in any court for anything said or any vote given by him in Parliament or its committees. This freedom is subject to the provisions of the Constitution and to the rules and standing orders regulating the procedure of Parliament.
• They are exempted from jury service. They can refuse to give evidence and appear as a witness in a case pending in a court when Parliament is in session.

Breach of Privilege

When any individual or authority disregards or attacks any of the privileges, rights and immunities, wither of the members individually or of the House in its collective capacity, the offence is termed as breach of privilege and is punishable by the House.

Contempt of the House

Any act or omission which obstructs a House of Parliament, its member or its officer in the performance of their functions or which has a tendency, directly or indirectly to produce results against the dignity, authority and honour of the House is treated as a contempt of the House.

Parliamentary privileges defined under law

According to the Constitution, the powers, privileges and immunities of Parliament and MP’s are to be defined by Parliament. No law has so far been enacted in this respect. In the absence of any such law, it continues to be governed by British Parliamentary conventions.

Cases of breach of privilege

There have been several such cases. In 1967, two people were held to be in contempt of Rajya Sabha, for having thrown leaflets from the visitors’ gallery.
In 1983, one person was held in breach for shouting slogans and throwing chappals from the visitors’ gallery.

Punishment in case of breach of privilege or contempt of the House

The house can ensure attendance of the offending person. The person can be given a warning and let go or be sent to prison as the case may be. In the case of throwing leaflets and chappal, the offending individuals were sentenced to simple imprisonment. In the 2007 case of breach of privilege against Ambassador Ronen Sen, the Lok Sabha Committee on privileges held that the phrase “headless chicken” was not used by Shri Sen in respect of MPs or politicians. No action was taken against him.
In 2008, an editor of an Urdu weekly referred to the deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha as a “coward” attributing motives to a decision taken by him. The privileges committee held the editor guilty of breach of privilege. The committee instead of recommending punishment stated that, “it would be better if the House saves its own dignity by not giving undue importance to such irresponsible articles published with the sole intention of gaining cheap publicity.”

Sources of Privileges

• Originally, the Constitution (Article 105) mentions two privileges, that is, freedom of speech in Parliament and right of publication of its proceedings.
• Parliament till now has not made any special law to exhaustively codify all the privileges.
• But there are five sources mentioned below which act as Sources of Privileges:
• Constitutional Provisions
• Various Laws made by Parliament.
• Rules of both the Houses
• Parliamentary conventions
• Judicial interpretations

Committee of Privileges

• Its functions are semi-judicial in nature.
• The 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. It determines with reference to the facts of each case whether a breach of privilege is involved and makes suitable recommendations in its report.
• The Lok Sabha committee has 15 members (nominated by Speaker of the Lok Sabha), while the Rajya Sabha committee has 10 members (nominated by Chairman of the Rajya Sabha).
• There is no definite term for this committee. Once appointed it remains in its place, till it is reconstituted.

Privilege motion

It is concerned with the breach of parliamentary privileges by a minister. It is moved by a member when he feels that a minister has committed a breach of privilege of the House or one or more of its members by withholding facts of a case or by giving wrong or distorted facts. Its purpose is to censure the concerned minister.

Freedom of Speech

No action can lie against a Member of Parliament for any speech or words spoken by him in course of proceedings of the House. Further no action is maintainable for any public speech made by a Member of Parliament by order of the House or in the ordinary course of Parliament business. He has absolute immunity from any action in a court of law for any thing said within the House. Similarly he is protected for any disclosure that he makes in Parliament. However, the freedom of speech of Members in subject to two limitations. These are: (i) the restriction imposed by the Rules of Procedure of the House, (ii) No discussion can take place in Parliament with respect to the conduct of any Judge of the Supreme Court or a High Court in discharge of his duties excepting upon a motion for the removal of a Judge.

Freedom from arrest

A member of parliament cannot be arrested and put in prison in a civil action within a period of 40 days before the commencement, and 40 days after the termination of a session of the House. The objective of this privilege is to enable the Members to participate uninterrupted in the Parliamentary business. The privilege of freedom from arrest does not extend to arrest in criminal proceedings or contempt of court or preventive detention.  The rationale behind this rule is that no person including a legislator can be allowed to endanger the security of the State.

Freedom from Jury Service

A Member of Parliament has the right to refuse to give evidence and appear as a witness in a case pending in a court of law when Parliament is in session. The rationale behind the rule is that Parliamentary business has priority over all other business.

Privileges ofthe House of Parliament

Each House of the Parliament has the following privileges:

(1)    The right to publish debates and proceeding and the right to restrain publication by others;

(ii)     The right to exclude others;

(iii)    The right to regulate the internal affairs of the House, and to decide on matters arising within its walls;

(iv)    The right to publish Parliamentary misbehavior; and

(v)     The right to punish members and outsiders for breach of its privileges.