Daily Business of House

Legislative instruments

Private members can also introduce Constitutional amendment bills, statutory resolutions but not money bills
Legislative instruments

The Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha

The Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha)

	In LS/RS	Constitution/Rules of Procedure/Business /Convention	Remarks
Motion		Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business	Motion may or may not be voted upon
Substantive motion	Both LS &RS	Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business
Substitute motion	Both LS &RS	Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business
Subsidiary motion	Both LS &RS	Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business	(Ancillary , Superseding, Amendment)
Closure motion	Both LS &RS	Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business	(simple closure, closure by compartments, Kangaroo closure, Guillotine closure)
Privilege motion	Both LS &RS	Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business	Breach of members privilege
Censure motion	Only LS	Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business
No-confidence motion	Only LS	Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business Rule
Calling attention motion	Both LS &RS	Rules of Procedure[Innovation]
Motion of thanks	Both LS &RS	Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business
No-day-Yet-Named motion	Both LS &RS	Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business
Adjournment motion	Only LS	Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business	Needs the support of 50 members
Dilatory Motion	Both LS &RS	Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business	motions that seek adjournment / delay / retard of the debate on Bills, motions or resolutions etc
Special Mention/Notice	SM in RS;N in LS	Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business
Resolution	Both LS &RS		Resolutions are put to voted
Private member resolution	Both LS &RS
Government resolution	Both LS &RS
Statutory resolution	Both LS &RS		Private member also
Question Hour	Both LS &RS	Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business	Question to private member is also present
Zero Hour	Both LS &RS	Informal Device [Convention][Innovation]
Discussion	Both LS &RS	Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business
Half-an-Hour discussion	Both LS &RS	Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business
Short duration discussion	Both LS &RS	Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business
Point of Order	Both LS &RS	Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business	when the proceedings of house do not follow normal rules of procedure Debate not allowed on it.

Question hour was suspended during COVID 19 and it has also been suspended in the years 1962, 1975, 1976, 1991, 2004 and 2009 for various reasons

Legislative procedure

Type of Bill	Joint sitting	Prior approval of President	Introduction in house	President scenarios
Ordinary Bills	Yes	No	Any house	Assent/Reject/Reconsider/Pending
Money Bills	No	Yes	Lok Sabha first	Assent/Reject/Pending
Financial Bills I	Yes	Yes	Lok Sabha first	Assent/Reject/Reconsider/Pending
Financial Bills II	Yes	No [But President recommends for consideration]	Any house	Assent/Reject/Reconsider/Pending
Constitutional Amendment Bills	No	No	Any house	Assent/Pending NOTE: NO rejection/reconsider
State reorganization bill ?	No	Yes	Any house	Assent/Reject/Reconsider/Pending

Absolute veto - rejected cases, Suspensive veto- reconsider (returned) cases, Pocket veto - pending cases
No provision for joint sitting in state legislature
Rajyasabha can amend/reject the Financial Bills I type. But it cannot amend taxation without the permission of President
Financial Bill I same as that of ordinary bill except two cases 1. Ap proval of President required 2. Must be introduced in Loksabha first
Financial Bill II same as that of ordinary bill except one case President should recommend to house for consideration [not prior permission]

For CAA, special majority rule is applicable in all the three stages of reading the bill in the house
During the passage of Appropriation Bill, no amendments are possible while during passage of Finance Bill, amendments are possible

Majorities

Ordinary/simple majority	O	Majority of present and voting	Ordinary and Money bills Quorum[1/10 & min 10 members whichever is higher for assembly] 2,5,6 Schedules Elections to Parliament and State legislatures, Conferment of more jurisdiction to SC, Delimitation of constituencies
Absolute majority	A	majority of total
Effective majority	E	Majority of present Other words, the then membership of house Other words, total members - absentees -vacancies	Removal of Speaker, Deputy Speaker, VP removal
Special Majority	S1	2/3 majority of present and Voting	Rajyasabha resolution to make laws in state list; Also in RS for creation of All India Services Create/abolish legislative council by special majority resolution in assembly
	S2	2/3 majority of present and Voting and absolute majority of total membership	CAA and SC Judge, CAG. Also used in State legislature for abolition of Legislative councils. National Emergency
	S3	2/3 majority of total membership of house	President (unique for him)
	S4	2/3 majority of present and Voting and more than 50 percent states ratification by Simple Majority	GST

*remember abstained from voting concept

Total membership means including vacancies and absentees, abstainers

Voting rights of Presiding officers w.r.t. Bills

	Speaker of LS	Chairman of RS	Deputy Speaker/Deputy Chairman
First Instance	Can't vote	Can't vote	While presiding can't vote. Else vote
Tie	Vote	Vote	vote
Removal	Can Vote	Can't vote	Can vote
Removal tie	Can't vote	Can't vote	Can't vote

Bills status w.r.t Loksabha dissolution

Loksabha	Rajyasabha	President	Status after LS dissolution
Pending			Lapses
Passed	Pending		Lapses
Passed	Passed	Pending	Does not lapse
Passed	not passed	Joint sitting	Does not lapse
Passed	Passed	Reconsideration	Does not lapse

Rajyasabha	Loksabha	President	Status after LS dissolution
Pending			Does not lapse
Passed	Pending		Lapses
Passed	Passed	Pending	Does not lapse
Passed	not passed	Joint sitting	Does not lapse
Passed	Passed	Reconsideration	Does not lapse

Prorogation of LS does not affect the bills or any othe business pending in the house (i.e. bills do not get lapsed). However all pending notices other than those for introduction of bills lapses. Ex: No confidence notice given by TDP lapsed as it is not introduced in LS before prorogue

Misc.

Article 121 - No discussions shall take place i Parliament with respect to the conduct of any Judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court in the discharge of his duties except on his removal

There is no explicit mention about retired judges

Bills on certain matters enumerated in the State list can be introduced in the State Legislature only with the previous sanction of the President Ex: Bills imposing restrictions on freedom of trade and commerce

Parliament is not supreme in India unlike in UK [Parliame nt bound to written Constitution, Judicial review, Federal System, FR ]
Parliamentary system is dual executive (Head of State is different from Head of Govt) and also against separation of powers (executive and legislature are interdependent)
Even state assemblies uses special majority Ex: To create/abolish legislative council by special majority resolution in assembly
Even President cannot return money bills for reconsideration in state assembly though they are reserved for President by Governor. But can be rejected
Preventive detention laws are made by Parliament and State legislature. These are not applicable to J&K
Publication in Gazette can happen before/after introduction of bill in parliament (notification is different from Publication)
For ordinary bills, if the second house keeps a bill pending for more than 6 months, deadlock occurs and President can summon joint sitting
For a member to be MLA/MLC, he must be elector for an assembly constituency in that state. For Governor nomination of MLC, he must be a resident in that state (need not be elector).
For a member to be MP, he must be elector for an parliamentary constituency. RS members need not be from that State
Mavalankar Rule

First speaker of Loksabha
A party must have at least 10 per cent of the strength of the House in order to qualify to be designated as a parliamentary party and the leader of the largest such parliamentary party in the opposition ranks is designated Leader of Opposition.

However, Tenth schedule makes it clear that even the one-member party has to be designated as legislature party

LOP in Rajyasabha and Loksabha are statutory recognised institutions but not constitutional. LOP has a cabinet minister rank

Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in the Parliament Act, 1977.

Leader of Houses of both Loksabha and Rajyasabha are nominated by Prime Minister. PM will be the leader of the house in which he is member of that house. Leader of House is mentioned in Rules of Procedure of LS, RS

Date for discussion of No-Day-Yet-Named motion can be decided after considering state of business in house or Business Advisory Committee or Leader of House
Statutory resolution can be moved either by a Minister or even by a private member

Statutory resolutions are those that are moved in pursuance of a provision in the constitution or an act of parliament

Point of order is an extraordinary device as it suspends the proceedings of House and also no debate is allowed on a point of order.

A member can raise point of order when the proceedings of house do not follow normal rules of procedure

Office of Whip, in India, is mentioned neither in the Constitution nor in the rules of the house, nor in the Parliamentary statutes. It is a parliamentary tradition
Speakers decision to classify a bill as money bill or not is final. However, decision is subjected to judicial review. SC, in case of Aadhar act 2016, reviewed Speakers decision and he ld that Aadhar cannot be classified as money bill i.e. SC overturned the Speakers decision

Parliamentary Privileges

Constitution has also extended Parliamentary privileges to those who can take part in proceedings of parliament or any of its committees Ex: Attorney General
Parliamentary privileges do not extend to President though he is integral part of Parliament
Press has right to publish the parliamentary proceedings except the proceedings of secret sitting
Person either member or outsider whether civil or criminal case, cannot be served or arrested in the prec incts of House without permission of Presiding officer
When in session, exempted from jury service implies that right to attend or reject to give evidence/appear as witnes s in any case
Source of parliamentary privileges is constitution and same as British House of Commons. In 44rth CAA, reference to British House of Commons removed verbally but the privileges are continued
Parliament has not made any special law to codify all the privileges of the house. Privileges are based on these sources- constitution, parliamentary laws, rules of both house, parliamentary conventions, judicial interpretations

Official

Official acts

Personal acts

Members of Parliament/legislature

Immune whatever done in Parliament

Civil - If in session, no arrest before 40 days or after 40 days.

Criminal/Preventive detention - No immunity

Exempted from jury service- If in session, members can refuse to attend/give evidence in a case pending before the court

Parliamentary petitions

Present in India and can petition to both Loksabha and Rajyasabha
Parliamentary Petitioning is a formal process that involves sending a written appeal to Parliament. The public can petition Parliament to make MPs aware of their opinion and/ or to request action
Ex: Petition praying for development of Railway network in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and other Himalayan States).
Conditions

Anyone can petition Parliament, proper format
In the case of Lok Sabha, the petition is normally required to be countersigned by an MP

Petitions can be sent to either House in respect of:

Any Bills/ other matters that are pending before the House
Any matter of general public interest relating to the work of the Central Government
NOTE: Not related to matters under pre-judice or for which remedy is available under Laws

Action on Petitions

Once submitted, the petition may either be tabled in the House or presented by an MP on behalf of the petitioner.
These are then examined by the Committee on Petitions.

The Committee may choose to circulate the petition and undertake consultations before presenting its report .
It may also invite comments from the concerned Ministries.
The recommendations of the Committee are then presented in the form of a report to the House.

Artcile-201- State bills reserved for President

When a Bill is reserved by a Governor for the consideration of the President, the President shall declare either that he assents to the Bill or rejects or -return the bill if it is not a money bill-
When a Bill is so returned, the House or Houses shall reconsider it accordingly within a period of six months from the date of receipt of such message and,
If it is again passed by the House or Houses with or without amendment, it shall be presented again to the President for his consideration Procedure in Financial Matters
Even then, President is not bound to give assent to the bills

Leader of Opposition LoP

LoP is a statutory post, drawing its power from Salaries and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament (SALOP) Act, 1977

NOTE: It is no constitutional post

Election

How to elect a LoP is not defined in the constitution.

Mavalankar who is first speaker of Loksabha sets the ruling and precedent

A party must have at least 10 per cent of the strength of the House in order to qualify to be designated as a parliamentary party and the leader of the largest such parliamentary party in the opposition ranks is designated Leader of Opposition.

But in 1977 RPA-Office of profit - it says that LoP shall be the leader of the party in opposition with “the greatest numerical strength” /span> and “< span>recognised as such by the Speaker”. It implies that speaker can take a decision regarding the leader of opposition even if no opposition party secured more than 10 percent seats
Current status

It is left to speaker for his interpretation in designating the Leader of Opposition

Powers

Cabinet minister rank
Member of selection panel for various constitutional posts such as CVC, CBI director, Lok Pal etc

Political parties become complacent when they face no opposition

It is the absence of any real opposition to the Congress for three decades after 1947 that is responsible for India’s slow progress despite its quite spectacul beginning under Jawaharlal Nehru

Part 5 - Legislature