- Rules of procedure in Parliament – Article 118(1) of the Constitution empowers each House of Parliament,, i.e Lok Sabha (lower house) and Rajya Sabha ((upper house) to make rules for regulating its Procedure and the Conduct of its business. Under this provision of the Constitution, Rajya Sabha adopted rules for regulating its procedure and the conduct of its business on June 2, 1964. It is Committee on Rules in respective houses considers matters of procedure and conduct of business in and recommends any amendments or additions to the rules that may be deemed necessary.
- Treasury Bench– Treasury Benches in the parliament are the benches in first row occupied by the senior leaders of a political party or union ministers.benches to the right of the Speaker are traditionally reserved for the members of the council of ministers of the ruling party These leader on Treasury Benches are responsible to carry out debate and procedure for conduct of business in smooth and productive way.
- Parliament in session– A session of the Indian Parliament is the time period during which a House meets almost every day continuously to transact business. There are usually three sessions in a year. They are the Budget Session (February to May); the Monsoon Session (July to September); and the Winter Session (November to December). A sitting of Parliament can be terminated by adjournment, adjournment sine die, prorogation or dissolution. Technically, a session of the Indian Parliament is the period between the first sitting of a House and its prorogation or dissolution. The period between the prorogation of a House and its reassembly in a new session is called ‘recess’. The maximum gap between two sessions of Parliament cannot be more than six months. In other words, the Parliament should meet at least twice a year. Summoning is the process of calling all members of the Parliament to meet. It is the duty of Indian President to summon each House of the Parliament from time to time.
- Adjournment of Parliament Session– An adjournment suspends the work in a sitting for a specified time, which may be hours, days or weeks. In this case, the time of reassembly is specified. An adjournment only terminates a sitting and not a session of the House. The power of adjournment lies with the presiding officer of the House.
- Adjournment sine die -Adjournment sine die means terminating a sitting of Parliament for an indefinite period. In other words, when the House is adjourned without naming a day for reassembly, it is called adjournment sine die.The power of adjournment sine die lies with the presiding officer of the House. The presiding officer of a House can call a sitting of the House before the date or time to which it has been adjourned or at any time after the House has been adjourned sine die.
- Prorogation of Parliament Session– Prorogation means the termination of a session of the House by an order made by the President under article 85(2)(a) of the Constitution. Prorogation terminates both the sitting and session of the House. Usually, within a few days after the House is adjourned sine die by the presiding officer, the President issues a notification for the prorogation of the session. However, the President can also prorogue the House while in session. All pending notices (other than those for introducing bills) lapse on prorogation and fresh notices have to be given for the next session.
- Disolution of Lok Sabha– A dissolution ends the very life of the existing House, and a new House is constituted after general elections are held. Rajya Sabha, being a permanent House, is not subject to dissolution. Only the Lok Sabha is subject to dissolution. The dissolution of the Lok Sabha may take place in either of two ways: (i) Automatically on the expiry of its tenure – five years or the terms as extended or during a national emergency and (ii) by Order of President after being authorized by Council of Ministers (CoM) for dissolving Lok Sabha, even before the end of the term. He may also dissolve Lok Sabha if CoM loses confidence and no party is able to form the government. Once the Lok Sabha is dissolved before the completion of its normal tenure, the dissolution is irrevocable. When the Lok Sabha is dissolved, all business including bills, motions, resolutions, notices, petitions and so on pending before it or its committees lapse.
- Joint Sitting of Parliament– If there is a deadlock in the Parliament of India because of lack of concurrence of both houses on a bill which is required to pass any bill, the Constitution of India provides for Joint sittings of both the Houses to break the deadlock. The joint sitting of the Parliament is called by the President of India (Article 108) and is presided over by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha or, in their absence, by the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, or in their absence, the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. The Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, who is the Vice President of India, doesn’t preside over the joint session. If any of the above officers are not present then any other member of the Parliament can preside by consensus of both the House. At present, the Central Hall is used for holding joint sittings of both the houses of parliament, which is also used for address by the President in the commencement of first session after each general election. The joint session is called in case (i) the Bill is rejected by the other House; or (ii) the Houses have finally disagreed as to the amendments to be made in the Bill; or (iii) more than six months elapse from the date of the reception of the Bill by the other House without the Bill being passed. The President may, unless the Bill has elapsed by reason of a dissolution of the House of the People, notify to the Houses by message if they are sitting or by public notification if they are not sitting, their intention to summon them to meet in a joint sitting for the purpose of deliberating and voting on the Bill. However, in the calculating period of six months, those days are not considered when the house is prorogued or adjourned for more than 4 consecutive days.
- The two bill which cannot be referred to joint session of Parliament– (i) Money Bill and (ii) Constitution Amendment Bill cannot be referred to a joint sitting: However of Parliament. Under the Constitution of India, money bills require the approval of the Lok Sabha only. Rajya Sabha can make recommendations to Lok Sabha, which it is not required to accept. Even if Rajya Sabha doesn’t pass a money bill within 14 days, it is deemed to have been passed by both the Houses of Parliament after the expiry of the above period. Therefore, a requirement to summon a joint session can never arise in the case of a money bill. In case of constitution Amendment Bill, Article 368 of Indian constitution require that constitution of India can be amended by both houses of parliament by 2/3 majority (special majority) . In case of disagreement between both houses, there is no provision to summon a joint session of parliament.
- Zero Hour– Zero Hour is the time when Members of Parliament (MPs) can raise Issues of Urgent Public Importance. For raising matters during the Zero Hour, MPs must give the notice before 10 am to the Speaker/ Chairman on the day of the sitting. The notice must state the subject they wish to raise in the House. However, Speaker, Lok Sabha / Chairman, Rajya Sabha may allow or decline a Member to raise a matter of importance. ‘Zero Hour’ is not mentioned in the Rules of Procedure. Thus, it is an informal device available to MPs to raise matters without any notice 10 days in advance. This is because, generally, the matters are of public importance and such matters cannot wait for 10 days.
- Question Hour– The first hour of every parliamentary sitting is slotted for asking questions, which is called Zero hour. During this time, the members ask questions and the ministers usually give answers. The questions are of three kinds, namely, starred, unstarred and short notice. (i) A starred question (distinguished by an asterisk) requires an oral answer and hence supplementary questions can follow, ( ii) An unstarred question, requires a written answer and hence, supplementary questions cannot follow, and (iii) A short notice question is one that is asked by giving a notice of less than ten days. It is answered orally.
- Closure Motion– It is a motion moved by a member to cut short the debate on a matter before the House. If the motion is approved by the House, debate is stopped forthwith and the matter is put to vote. There are four kinds of closure motions : (i) Simple Closure in which a member moves that the ‘matter having been sufficiently discussed be now put to vote’, (ii) Closure by Compartments in which the clauses of a bill or a lengthy resolution are grouped into parts before the commencement of the debate. The debate covers the part as a whole and the entire part is put to vote, (iii) Kangaroo Closure in which only important clauses are taken up for debate and voting and the intervening clauses are skipped over and taken as passed, and (iv) Guillotine Closure in which the undiscussed clauses of a bill or a resolution are also put to vote along with the discussed ones due to want of time (as the time allotted for the discussion is over).
- No-Confidence Motion- Article 75 of the Constitution says that the council of ministers shall be collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. It means that the ministry stays in office so long as it enjoys confidence of the majority of the members of the Lok Sabha. In other words, the Lok Sabha can remove the ministry from office by passing a no-confidence motion. The motion needs the support of 50 members to be admitted.
- Privilege Motion- It is concerned with the breach of parliamentary privileges by a minister. It is moved by a member when he feels that a minister has committed a breach of privilege of the House or one or more of its members by withholding facts of a case or by giving wrong or distorted facts. Its purpose is to censure the concerned minister.
- Motion of Thanks– The first session after each general election and the first session of every fiscal year is addressed by the president. In this address, the president outlines the policies and programmes of the government in the preceding year and ensuing year. This address of the president, which corresponds to the ‘speech from the Throne in Britain’, is discussed in both the Houses of Parliament on a motion called the ‘Motion of Thanks’. At the end of the discussion, the motion is put to vote. This motion must be passed in the House. Otherwise, it amounts to the defeat of the government. This inaugural speech of the president is an occasion available to the members of Parliament to raise discussions and debates to ex-amine and criticise the government and administration for its lapses and failures.
- Calling Attention Motion-It is introduced in the Parliament by a member to call the attention of a minister to a matter of urgent public importance, and to seek an authoritative statement from him on that matter. Like the zero hour, it is also an Indian innovation in the parliamentary procedure and has been in existence since 1954. However, unlike the zero hour, it is mentioned in the Rules of Procedure.
- No-Day-Yet-Named-Motion-It is a motion that has been admitted by the Speaker but no date has been fixed for its discussion. The Speaker, after considering the state of business in the House and in consultation with the leader of the House or on the recommendation of the Business Advisory Committee, allots a day or days or part of a day for the discussion of such a motion.
- Short Duration Motions– These discussions can range between half an hour to two hours and may be called by members of the Parliament toan raise such discussions on a matter of urgent public importance. The Speaker can allot three days in a week for half an hour discussion and allot two days in a week for two hour discussions. There is neither a formal motion before the house nor voting. This device has been in existence since 1953.
- Point of Order-A Member can raise a point of order when the proceedings of the House do not follow the normal rules of procedure. A point of order should relate to the interpretation or enforcement of the Rules of the House or such articles of the Constitution that regulate the business of the House and should raise a question that is within the cognizance of the Speaker. It is usually raised by an opposition member in order to control the government. It is an extraordinary device as it suspends the proceedings before the House. No debate is allowed on a point of order.
- Special Mention– A matter which is not a point of order or which cannot be raised during question hour, half-an hour discussion, short duration discussion or under adjournment motion, calling attention notice or under any rule of the House can be raised under the special mention in the Rajya Sabha. Its equivalent procedural device in the Lok Sabha is known as ‘Notice (Mention) Under Rule 377’.
- Adjournment Motion– When there is an urgent matter of public importance then a member may propose that the business of the house be adjourned for discussing that matter. This motion can be moved only with the consent of the Speaker. Generally such motions are discussed in the afternoon at 4.00 p.m.
- Lame Duck Session-It refers to the last session of the existing Lok Sabha, after a new Lok Sabha has been elected. Those members of the existing Lok Sabha who could not get re-elected to the new Lok Sabha are called lame-ducks.
- Budgetary Motions– Budgetary motions could be moved only in Lok Sabha as the demand for grants are considered and passed by the Lok Sabha. There are three types of budgetary motions: (i) Policy Cut: The member moves that the demand be reduced to one rupee. The member moving this motion in fact wants to discuss the policy behind the demand in detail and gives alternative policy suggestions. (ii) Economy Cut, which refers to a motion that seeks substantial reduction in the amount of demand. The amount to be reduced is clearly stated and the object is to bring about economy in the expenditure and (iii) Token Cut is a motion that seeks the demand to be reduced by Rs. 100/-. The object of the motion is to ventilate a specific grievance/s within the sphere of responsibility of the Government.
- Private Member’s Resolution- A resolution may be moved by a Minister or by a private member. For private members generally afternoons are reserved on alternate Fridays. Resolutions are selected by ballot. Resolutions may be brought under Rule 200 of the Lok Sabha for the removal of the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker.
- Parliament Marshall– A Parliament Marshall Plans, reviews and implements security operational readiness at the Parliament, outside the House accommodation throughout the building and its precincts, including the reservation of Committee, Conference/Interview rooms and parking facilities.
Terms Used in Parliamentary processes in India
Compiled by Samardeep
