Privilege Motion in Parliament, Committee, Procedure

Context: A Congress MP has moved a privilege motion against the PM in the Lok Sabha for sharing the speech of a BJP MP  on his social media.

About Parliamentary Privilege

• As elected representatives, the members of the House enjoy certain rights and immunities to effectively discharge their functions.
• Currently India lacks a law that defines what is a parliamentary privilege.
• Article 105 explicitly mentions only two kinds of privileges,
  • Freedom of speech in the Parliament
  • Right to publish the house proceedings.
• The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908
  • Grants freedom from arrest and detention of members under a civil process during house proceedings (40 days before and after commencement of the session of the house)

About Privilege Motion

• If a member believes that such a privilege has been breached or misused, a motion or complaint can be raised to the house chairman or speaker.
• The right to raise a question of privilege is based on satisfying two conditions –
  • The question shall be restricted to a specific matter of recent occurrence
  • The matter requires the intervention of the Council.

Committee of Privileges in Parliament

• This committee consists of 15 members in Lok Sabha and 10 members in case of Rajya Sabha nominated by the Speaker (Chairman in case of RS) from time to time.
• In the RS, the deputy chairperson is appointed (by the RS Chairman) as the head of the committee of privileges.
• The Speaker/RS Chairman is the first level of scrutiny of a privilege motion.
  • The Speaker/Chairman can decide on the privilege motion himself or herself or refer it to the privileges committee of Parliament.

Related UPSC PYQ

Q. Which of the following statements about the Ethics Committee in the Lok Sabha are correct?

1. Initially, it was an ad-hoc Committee.
2. Only a Member of the Lok Sabha can make a complaint relating to the unethical conduct of a member of the Lok Sabha.
3. This Committee cannot take up any matter which is sub-judice.

Select the correct answer using the code given below :

• 1 and 2 only
• 2 and 3 only
• 1 and 3 only
• 1, 2 and 3

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