Short Notes - Union Legislature
Category : UPSC
Union Legislature
- Part V of the Constitution deals with Parliament. According to Article 79, there shall be a Parliament for the Union, which shall consists of:
- President of India,
- Two houses consists of Council of States (Rajya Sabha or Upper House of the people and Lok Sabha or Lower House).
- It is important to appreciate that making the President a part of the Parliament is in conformity with the principles and traditions of the parliamentary form of government.
- The business of Parliament is transacted either in Hindi or in English. However, the members are permitted to address the House in their mother tongue.
Rajya Sabha (Council of States)
- The Upper House of Parliament known as the Rajya Sabha held its first sitting on April 3,1952.
- Article 80 of the Constitution lays down the maximum strength of Rajya Sabha as 250, out of which 12 members are nominated by the President, 238 are representatives of the States and of the two Union Territories.
- The present strength of Rajya Sabha, however, is 245, out of which 233 are representatives of the States and Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry and 12 are nominated by the president.
- The members nominated by the President are persons having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of such matters as iterature, science, art and social service.
- The Fourth Schedule to the Constitution provides for allocation of seats to the States and Union Territories in Rajya Sabha.
- The allocation of seats is made on the basis of the population of each State.
- The Rajya Sabha is not subject to dissolution. The members of the Rajya Sabha are elected for 6 years. One- third of the members retire every two years and new members are elected.
- The retiring member can be re-elected. To be eligible to be a member of the Rajya Sabha, a person must (a) be a citizen of India, and (b) be at least 30 years of age.
- Other qualifications are the same as those for the members of the Lok Sabha.
- There should not be a gap of more than six months between the two sessions. The President summons and has the right to prorogue the sessions of the Parliament.
- Lok Sabha can be dissolved by the President but not the Rajya Sabha, as it is a permanent house of the Parliament.
Lok Sabha (People's House)
- Lok Sabha is known as the Lower or House of People.
- The Lok Sabha is the popular House of the Parliament because its members are directly elected.
- Its first sitting took place on May 13, 1952
- Normally, three Sessions of the Lok Sabha are held in a year, namely, the Budget Session, the Monsoon Session and the Winter Session.
- The Budget Session is the most important and the longest of the three Sessions, usually commencing some-time in the third week of February and ending by the middle of May.
- The Monsoon Session normally commences sometime in the middle of July and lasts till the third week of August.
- The Winter Session generally begins in the middle of November and comes to an end sometime in the last week of December.
- All the members of the Parliament are popularly elected, except not more than two members of the Anglo-Indian community, who are nominated by the President.
- In the Constitution, the strength of the Lok Sabha was provisioned to be not more than 552 : 530 from the States, 20 from the Union Territories and 2 nominated from the Anglo-Indian community.
- It is composed of representatives of the people from 543 constituencies, chosen by direct election on the basis of adult suffrage, and meets in the Lok Sabha Chambers of the Sansad Bhavan in New Delhi.
- As per Article 81 there shall be not more than 530 representatives from the States, 20 from the Union Territories and not more than 2 nominated members from Anglo-Indian community [Article 331), i.e. Total 552
- Under the current laws, the strength of Lok Sabha is 545, including the two seats reserved for members of the Anglo-Indian community.
- A total of 131 seats (18.42%) are reserved for representatives of Scheduled Castes (84) and Scheduled Tribes (47).
- The Bharatiya Janata Party (of the NDA) achieved an absolute majority with 282 seats out of 543 in the 16th Lok Sabha held in 2014.
- But the Constitution empowers the Lok Sabha to re-adjust the strength.
- The party with largest member after ruling party and having at least 1/l0th of the strength of Lok Sabha is recognized as Opposition Party.
- Presently Uttar Pradesh tops the list followed by Maharashtra and West Bengal respectively. UP-80, Maharashtra- 48, West Bengal-42, Andhra Pradesh-42, Tamil Nadu- 39.
- Election: Lok Sabha members are directly elected by the people of the states on the basis of adult suffrage. However, in case of Sikkim' its sole representative in the House of the People is elected by the member of its Legislative Assembly (Article 371 F(e),
- Qualifications Article 84 states about the eligibility for membership of Parliament. Accordingly:
- He should be a citizen of India.
- He should not be less than of 25 years of age.
- He should be a registered voter in any of the Parliamentary Constituencies in India.
- He should not hold any office of profit.
Bills
The bill can broadly be categorised as:
(a) Ordinary bills
(b) Money bills
Ordinary Bills
- All the Bills other than Financial Bills
- Money Bills and the Constitutional Amendment Bills are Ordinary Bills.
- Such Bills can be introduced in either House of the Parliament (in Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha) without the recommendation of the President, except those Bills under Article 3 (i.e., Bills related to reorganisation of the territory of a State).
Money Bills
- Money Bill is defined in Art. 110 of the Constitution.
- As per the Article, any Bill dealing with all or any of the matters enumerated from (a) to [g) of the same Article shall be a Money Bill.
- These are: imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax.
- Regulation of the borrowings of money or giving of guarantee by the Government of India.
- After being passed by the Lok Sabha, the Money Bill passes on to the Rajya Sabha which has four options: Pass the, Bill in the original form, Reject the Bill, and Take no action for 14 days. Send the Bill with suggestive Amendments to the Lok Sabha.
- There is no provision for a joint-sitting of the Parliament to pass a Money Bills after the Money Bill is passed by the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, it is presented to the President who unlike in the case of other Bills, has no right to withhold it (Art. 111).
Financial Bills
- As regards the procedure for its passage, a Financial Bill is as good as an Ordinary Bill except that a Financial Bill cannot be introduced without the President's recommendation, and it can only be introduced in the Lok Sabha.
- Thus a Financial Bill is passed according to the ordinary procedure provided for passing of an Ordinary Bill.
- Any Bill dealing with revenue or expenditure, but not certifies as Money Bill by the Speakers as Financial Bill These Financial Bills are of two classes:
- A Bill containing any of the matters specified in Art. 110, but not exclusively dealing with those matters.
- For example, a Bill containing taxation clause, but not solely dealing with taxation.
- This is called the Financial Bill of First Class.
- An Ordinary Bill contains provisions involving expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India. This is called the Financial Bill of Second Class.
Constitutional Amendment Bills
- 368 deals with the power of the Parliament to amend the Constitution, and the procedure thereof.
- A Bill for this can be introduced in either House (the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha] of the Parliament.
Sepeaker of the Lok Sabha
- After formation of a new Lok Sabha the President appoints a Speaker protern who is the senior most member of the House.
- A Deputy Speaker is also elected to officiate in the absence of the Speaker.
- The Speaker is the Chief Presiding Officer of the Lok Sabha.
- The two officers are elected from amongst the Members of the Lok Sabha after a new Lok Sabha is constituted.
- The Speaker presides over the meet- ings of the House and his rulings on the proceedings of the House are final.
- He has the responsibility to uphold the dignity and the privileges of the House.
- In the absence of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker performs the Speaker's duties.
- The Speaker continues to hold office even after the Lok Sabha is dissolved till the newly elected Lok Sabha is constituted.
- The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker may be removed from their offices by a resolution passed by the House with an effective majority of the House after a prior notice of 14 days to them.
Meira Kumar is the first woman Speaker of the Lok Sabha [2009-2014)
GMC Balyogi is the first speaker to die in the office [1998-2002]
Dr Balram Jakhar was the longest serving Speaker [1980-1989)
M A Ayangar was the first Deputy Speaker [1952-1956]
GV Mavlankar was the first Speaker of the Lok Sabha [1952-1956)
Sumitra Mahajan is the present Speaker of 16th Lok Sabha since June, 2014
Joint Session of the House
- Art 108 provides that when a bill is passed by one house is sent to the other. The other house may:
- Reject the bill altogether.
- Disagrees on it and returns it with some amendments which are not ultimately considered by the originating house.
- Takes no action and more than 6 months’ time has passed.
- The President in such a case may summon a joint sitting of both the houses.
- At a joint sitting of two houses, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and in his absence, the Deputy Speaker, or if he is also absent, Deputy Chairman of the Council of States and if he is also absent, such person as may be determined by the members present in the sitting presides. Lok Sabha by its numerical majority prevails over the joint sitting.
- This provision does not apply to money bill.
- There cannot be a joint sitting for Constitution Amendment bills. Nor do such bills require previous sanction of the President.
- President cannot summon a joint sitting if the bill has lapsed by reason of a dissolution of Lok Sabha.
