Diminishing Parliament

The Indian Express     14th September 2020     Save    
QEP Pocket Notes

Context: The decision to curtail “Question Hour” of Parliament session has evoked serious concerns about the democratic functioning of the institution. 

Strength/Relevance of Question Hour

  • A parliamentary device : meant for exercising legislative control over executive actions 
      • To criticise government policies and programmes, ventilate public grievances, expose the government’s lapses, extract promises from ministers.
  • Ensures accountability and transparency in governance.
        • The government is duty bound to respond to questions in Parliament
  • Constitutional mandate of parliamentary oversight over executive actions as envisaged under Article 75 (3).
  • A democratic right of the members of Parliament enjoyed even under the colonial rule

Historical Evolution of Question Hour

  • The Charter Act, 1853 gave power to the members of first legislative council to ask questions to the executive. 
  • The Indian Council Act of 1861 allowed members to elicit information by means of questions. 
  • The Indian Council Act, 1892 formulated the rules for asking questions including short notice questions
  • The Indian Council Act, 1909 (Montague-Chelmsford reforms) incorporated provisions for asking supplementary questions by members. 
    • It incorporated a rule that the first hour of every meeting was earmarked for questions.
  • Provisions regarding starred questions were started in 1921.

Conclusion: Curtailing the power of questioning the Members of Parliament (MP), will diminish the role of Parliament as an institutional of democracy and turn itself into an “Executive Parliament.”

QEP Pocket Notes