Political Debates go for a toss: Lok Sabha passes 8 bills in 17 minutes

Time crunch or unwillingness to hold debates whatever may be the reason Lok Sabha was instrumental in passing 8 bills in flat 17 minutes recently. Whereas it is only after three readings a bill is passed in the Parliament. That is first when it is introduced, second when there are discussions and debates regarding the bill. Now the second reading is an elaborate process as it involves two stages where first stage is a general discussion of the bill and the second stage is analyzing it clause by clause. Third reading is when the house decides to pass the bill. So how come it took only two minutes to pass a bill. Out of the eight bills there were six bills which were technically introduced earlier, but they never went through the discussion stage as the lower house met for only 46 days in this year. This was another record of sorts where the sittings of the Lower House were far below the minimum of 100 sittings. Where the process of legislation is based on political debates and discussions , how can there be no debates at all?

Surprisingly there were two bills which were passed in hurry without any second reading. First reading of the bills was subsequently followed by third reading that day, no question of debates or discussions at all. Further all this happened when there was pandemonium in the house with the members of the opposition protesting against the remarks made by Minority Affairs Minister A.R. Antulay and demanding his resignation. These bills which didn’t see the light of second reading included the setting up of South Asian University in Delhi which the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed at the SAARC Summit way back in 2005. Where was the urgency to pass this bill now?Was it to divert attention of the opposition who were protesting? The other bill was the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) (Union Territories) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2008. According to this amendment those who are not born in Lakshadweep can also be included in the ST list. Here again there was a matter of convenience as this amendment would allow Hamadullah Sayeed who was born in Delhi to contest elections from Lakshadweep. He is son of late Congress leader P M Sayeed.

Matter of fact, the Code of Criminal Procedure amendment Bill 2008 was also rushed through that day. Neither there was any discussion for CrPC bill nor any clause by clause consideration. Though the amendments followed the recommendations of the Standing Committee on home affairs in August,2007 but what is disturbing is how there can be no second reading of such a crucial bill. And there is no explanation why the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill which was rejected by the standing committee was also passed that day.The simple reason appears that there was no time for allocating sufficient time to each of the bills. Why is it that there were only 46 sittings of the Lok Sabha? The debatable point is why the legislative process is not being followed? The number of sittings of the Lok Sabha from 1952 to 2008 has declined from 103 days to 46 days and that of Rajya Sabha from 60 to 46 and that too without any reason.

When the total expenditure for running the Parliament can be millions of rupees including facilities and perks provided to the MPs among other things why the parliament cannot function in the specified manner as described in the Constitution. Why is it that the monsoon session of the Parliament is being held in winter making it the longest session ever which extended to 6 months. Is there any reason why the legislature is working on the whims and fancies of the executive? Who would look after safeguarding the process of legislation? The Speaker Somnath Chatterjee was not there in the second half and the bills were passed in the presence of Deputy Speaker Charanjit Atwal and no one intervened when series of bill were passed like usual affair.

There are number of questions which can be asked and which points finger to one fact , the efficacy of parliamentary form of government in India. When the legislature starts functioning as a subsidiary to the executive where is the justification of its entity ? Can we afford to spend so much on the maintenance of the parliament or to bear the brunt of frequent elections considering all this? When no single party is getting majority in the Lok Sabha elections and coalition governments become the rule of the day maybe now it’s time to do a serious rethinking. It’s not only matter of political debates, it is how things are shaping up in largest democracy in the world.

By Shilpa Srivastava
Editorial Desk