The Parliament of India

A Brief Overview
 Introduction

Parliament, which is a platform to do deliberations on issues having social and civic importance in any
popular democracy, is a cornerstone of democratic values in any representative democracy.
Parliament may be perceived as a political institution to ensure the realization of what Mahatma Gandhi
once envisaged that, Democracy essentially is the art and science of mobilizing and utilizing the entire
physical, economic and immaterial & metaphysical resources for the common good of all the people.
Though the origin of the concept of Parliament traces to European nations since medieval ages, it has
been an indispensable part of Indian democratic structure since inception of democracy in India.
The stalwarts of Indian freedom struggle, legal & constitutional experts and other members of the
Constituent Assembly, after an extensive and in-depth study of the Constitution of other nation-states
arrived at a conclusion of endorsing a parliamentary system of government.
COMPOSITION
 The Rajya Sabha
Rajya Sabha or the Council of States is the Upper House of the Indian Parliament.
This house is permanent in nature as it can never be dissolved. This is because every member elected to
the Rajya Sabha serves for a term of 6 years and one-third of members do retire biennially.
Retired members are subject to re-election.
This house consists of 250 members out of which, 238 members are elected by means of single
transferable vote. 12 members are nominated by the President on the advice of the council of ministers.
The method of election of these members is listed in Article 80(1) of the Indian Constitution.
It says that the members would be elected by the elected members of respective state assemblies in
accordance with proportionate representation of every state.
This provision thus reflects the federal nature of Council of States, where every state is represented
proportionally.
However, the number of members representing each state varies from 1 to as large as 31 (for Uttar
Pradesh).
Article 84 of the Indian Constitution provides for the qualification to become a member of Rajya Sabha,
i.e. one must have nationality of India, doesn’t holds any office of profit and must have completed 30 years
of age.
 Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson
In Rajya Sabha, the Vice-President of India presides of its sessions and is ex-officio chairperson of the
house.
However, to take care of its day-to-day affairs, and to preside the sessions in absence of the Chairperson,
i.e. the Vice-President, a member of the house itself is chosen internally by the Rajya Sabha as Deputy
Chairperson of the house.
 Position in Different Countries
It’ll be an interesting task to look into other democratic systems if something analogous to what we call
Rajya Sabha exists.
Most of the nation-states in the European Union have a council of states. And almost all of them functions
as a consultative or advisory body to the president or the government.
For example, the Belgian Council of States is a Judicial and advisory body, which assists legal advisory in
matters of draft bills to the executive.
While in China, the Chinese State Council happens to be the highest administrative body of the country.
At the same time, in Portugal, the Portuguese State Council serves as an advisory body of the President
of the state.
In the United States, there is no such body resembling to the functions that Rajya Sabha serves.
However, it has a bicameral legislature and is comprised of House of Representatives and the Senate.
Interestingly, the number of senators for each administrative unit is fixed, i.e. 2.
 The Lok Sabha
The provisions of Article 331 of the Indian Constitution provide existence of house of people and shall
consist at maximum 530 chosen members from different states, not more than 20 members to be chosen
from the Union Territories. If President feels that there is lack of representation of the Anglo-Indian
Community in parliament he may nominate two members of Anglo-Indian Community.
Some seats are also reserved for the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled tribes communities especially laid
aside for them all over the country.
The representation is allocated to the states and the Union Territories according to the Representation of
the people act passed by parliament of India in the year 1951.
The Lok Sabha, unless dissolved midway, continues its tenure for 5 years from the day of its first meeting.
 Territorial Constituencies
As the members to the Lok Sabha are elected directly, it needs to have a proper division of the country
into smaller units.
And for this purpose, India is divided into small territorial constituencies.
These constituencies are sorted out in such a way so that each Indian state has an adequate share of
members in the house and is proportional to its population.
To keep this division democratic, the constituencies are carved out in such a way so that the ratio of the
number of representatives and the population of that particular constituency should remain the same
across all the constituencies.
 Speaker and Deputy Speaker
To preside over sessions of the house, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha is elected among the sitting
members of the house. He/she is generally elected in the first meeting of the Lok Sabha and serves a
tenure of 5 years along with that particular Lok Sabha. And as normally practiced, the Speaker is a
member of the ruling party or alliance. Regarding the election of the Speaker, sitting MPs proposes names
and the same are notified to the President of India.Then a date for the election is notified. Now, if only one
name is proposed by the MPs, no formal voting happens but, in a case where a proposal for more than
one name shows up, a division vote is organized and the Speaker is chosen accordingly. Inter alia (among
other things), one of the main functions of a Speaker is to decide upon whether a bill is a money bill or not.
His/her function also includes maintaining decorum and discipline in the house and punishing those who
are not complying with his guidelines. Also, in the order of precedence, he/she is ranked 6th, parallel to
the Chief Justice of India. According to Article 94 and Article 96 of the Indian Constitution, a Speaker can
be removed by a resolution passed with an effective majority, i.e More the 50% of the members of the
house. He/she can also be removed according to The Representation of the People Act and when a bill is
wrongly certified as a money bill by the Speaker. The Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha serves as a
Number-Two, who, in absence of The Speaker carries forward his roles and functions. He/she also has a
tenure of 5 years and can leave the post midway if he/she ceases to be a member of parliament.
 Sessions of the Parliament
SESSIONS

BUDGET SESSION MONSOON SESSION WINTER SESSION

 Functions of the Parliament
➔ LEGISLATION

➔ PROVIDING THE CABINET

➔ CONTROL OF THE CABINET

➔ CRITICISM AND EVALUATION OF THE CABINET

➔ FINANCIAL CONTROL
 Joint Sittings of House
In case of a deadlock between both, the houses of parliament regarding the passing of a bill, the
President of India may summon a joint sitting of both the houses. The joint sitting of both the houses is
presided by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and in his absence, the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha
discharges this function. Article 108 of the Indian Constitution provides provisions for this mechanism
which breaks the deadlock between both the houses.
According to this Article, a joint session can be called upon only if:
➢ A bill, after being passed out in one house, and the other house rejects it
➢ One of the houses doesn’t accept the amendments passed by the other house
➢ When 6 months elapse, and the other house doesn’t pass the bill
There are some exceptions available to the Joint Sitting of the Houses:
● Money Bill- According to the Constitution, Money bills only require approval from the Lok Sabha,
thus, in case of money bill the situation arises for a Joint Sitting of the Houses.
● Constitutional Amendment Bills- A Constitutional amendment bill can be passed on through a
2/3rd majority of both the houses and doesn’t have a provision for Joint Sittings in case of
disagreement between the houses.
BUDGET
 Parliamentary Control over Financial Affairs
Financial matters in India are largely controlled by the Parliament. This control includes control over
revenue matters and expenditure related issues.
As stated in the Constitution in Article 265, no tax can be collected or levied by the executive authorities
without any law supporting it. So, if tax is imposed upon anyone without having legislative backing, then
the person can go to court for redressal.
As Parliament holds control over the Consolidated Fund of India, its control over the expenditure is pivotal.
As the Consolidated fund of India is the reservoir of all the expenses and finances of India, the parliament
thus exerts full control over expenditure.
 CAG of India
In words of the architect of the Indian Constitution, Dr.B.R. Ambedkar, the Comptroller and
Auditor-General of India is one of the most important officers which the Constitution provides for as he/she
looks after finances and expenditure by the Parliament.
CAG of India is not accountable towards anyone but the public as he/she looks after the public purse of
the nation.
Article 148 of the Constitution talks about the appointment of CAG and its oath. He/she also derives
authority from The Comptroller and Auditor General’s (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service)
Act, 1971.
 Duties of CAG
The major duties and functions of the CAG, according to the Indian Constitution are:
● All the accounts of Union Governments and State Governments come under the ambit of Audit by
the CAG.
● All the expenditures from the Contingency Fund and the Public Account are also audited by the
CAG.
● CAG also audits all the expenditures and receipts by all the Government authorities and
Undertakings.
● CAG can also audit account of the local bodies on request of the President or the Governor.
● CAG also acts as a guide to the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament.
 CONCLUSION
So, in this exhaustive article about the Indian Parliament, we discussed almost all the aspects and
functions of the Parliament.
Parliament is an essential political and constitutional institution that forms the bedrock of values reflecting
those of democracy and representation of people and thus is fundamental in achieving the constitutional
goals.