The Parliament is the foremost forum for the taking up of matters related to the country. Therefore, the Members of Parliament (MP) should be free to speak their mind in Parliament and be given the scope and leeway to raise any issue and seek discussion on those. This right, known as parliamentary privilege, is not an absolute right, however, and is governed by the need for members to conform to certain basic principles that can be expected of a holder of high public office. Here’s all you need to know about parliamentary privilege and how an MP may fall foul of it.
What Is Parliamentary Privilege?
The Lok Sabha (LS) Secretariat says that “the term ‘privilege‘ means certain rights and immunities enjoyed by each House of Parliament and its committees collectively, and by the members of each House individually without which they cannot discharge their functions efficiently and effectively”.
This suggests that these privileges are central to how the Parliament gets its work done. But more than a licence, parliamentary privilege is envisaged as setting a standard for the members. “The object of parliamentary privilege is to safeguard the freedom, the authority and the dignity of Parliament. They are enjoyed by individual members,
because the House cannot perform its functions without unimpeded use of the services of its members,” the LS Secretariat says.
What Kind Of Benefit Does Such Privilege Provide?
Again, parliamentary privilege does not allow unequivocal latitude for members to do as they please. Rather, it is “available to individual members only insofar as they are necessary for the House to perform its functions freely without any let or hindrance”.
“They do not exempt the members from the obligations to the society which apply to other citizens. Privileges of Parliament do not place an MP on a footing different from that of an ordinary citizen in the matter of the application of laws, unless there are good and sufficient reasons in the interest of Parliament itself to do so,” the LS Secretariat notes.
What Entails Parliamentary Privilege?
As you would guess, first and foremost, parliamentary privilege involves the right of a member to speak freely in the House. It extends “immunity to a member from any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or any vote given by her/him in Parliament” or on any of its committees. Further, such immunity also covers exemption from proceedings in any court “in respect of the publication by or under the authority of either House of Parliament of any report, paper”, etc.
Where a House of Parliament is itself concerned, privilege means that courts are prohibited from inquiring into its proceedings. Importantly, privilege extends to “freedom from arrest of members in civil cases during the continuance of the session of the House and 40 days before its commencement and 40 days after its conclusion”. However, this freedom from arrest does not cover “preventive arrest or detention under statutory authority by executive order and in criminal cases”.
What Is Breach Of Privilege?
According to the LS Secretariat, action by any individual or body to disregard or attack any of the privileges, rights and immunities, “either of the members individually or of the House in its collective capacity… is called a breach of privilege and is punishable by the House”.
The Rajya Sabha Secretariat adds that it is the House itself that decides as to what constitutes a breach of privilege and the “penal jurisdiction of the House in this regard covers its members as well as strangers”. Moreover, the House can pursue “every act of violation of privileges, whether committed in the immediate presence of the House or outside of it”. Thus, even those who are not MPs can be penalised for breach of privilege.
Besides breach of privilege, a House can also take up contempt proceedings in case of an offence “against the authority or dignity of the House, such as disobedience to its legitimate orders or libels upon itself, its members or officers”.
If found guilty of breach of privilege or contempt of the House, a person can either be punished by imprisonment, or receive an admonition or reprimand. When it comes to MPs, “two other punishments may also be awarded to the members for contempt, namely, ‘suspension’ and ‘expulsion’ from the House”.
What Is Privilege Motion?
In either House, an MP has to obtain the consent of the presiding officer — the Speaker in Lok Sabha and the Chair in Rajya Sabha — to raise a question involving a breach of privilege or contempt. The Lok Sabha rule book says that a member who wishes to “raise a question of privilege has to give notice in writing to the Secretary-General before the commencement of the sitting by 10 am on the day the question is proposed to be raised”.
However, no more than one question of privilege is allowed to be raised in the same sitting while the rules also say that “the question should be restricted to a specific matter of recent occurrence”. Once notice is received, the Speaker may either give or withhold consent for raising the question of privilege in the House. If consent is granted, the MP who has given notice has to ask for the leave of the House to raise the question of privilege, upon which at least 25 members of the House have to support its introduction.
Once admitted, the House may either take up the matter or, as it the usual practice, may refer it — on a motion made by any member — to the Committee of Privileges which, in Lok Sabha, is a panel consisting of 15 members drawn from the various parties. The House then waits for the committee to give its report in the matter before coming to a decision. In Rajya Sabha, the Committee of Privileges comprises 10 members.
How Often Is A Privilege Motion Passed?
According to reports, privilege motions introduced in Parliament are mostly rejected with punishment handed out only in a small number of cases. However, significant among these is the privilege motion passed against Indira Gandhi in 1978 — the year after Emergency was repealed and Congress was ousted from power — on the basis of a resolution moved by the then Home Minister Charan Singh on the issue of excesses during the Emergency. She was expelled from the House as a result.
In 2007, the then Indian ambassador to the US, Ronen Sen, was let off the hook in a breach of privilege case over remarks made by him to the media.
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