The Largest Democracy’s Undemocratic Parliament

 

The Largest Democracy’s Undemocratic Parliament

-Rohan Choudhary*

This monsoon session was the fourth consecutive session of the parliament which was called off before the schedule, barring the winter session of 2020 (which was cancelled due to the pandemic). The opposition kept the parliament at standstill, demanding to have a fair and square discussion on the important issues such as Pegasus Spyware, Farm Laws etc. Now there are two ways to look at this issue, which depends on what side of political fence you stand on. Looking it from the government point of view, there stand have been that parliament can’t function amidst all the chaos and ruckus created by the opposition. If you are on other side, you may hold the view that it’s the fundamental duty of the opposition to hold the government accountable. The pertinent question that needs to be addressed here is about the means used by the opposition to register their protest. Is it right to keep the parliament at standstill, by creating a ruckus.

Parliament is undoubtedly the most sacred place in a democracy, where the parliamentarians can put forth the voices of the common citizenry. For that to happen, debating and discussing in quintessential. However, the recent trends have been dismal, in this very monsoon session a total of 22 bills were passed with an average of under 10 minutes per bill¹ (excluding the time of introductory speech by the concerned minister). Unsurprisingly, only one among those 22 bills was put forth for discussion, and none was referred to a parliamentary committee. The lack of debate has raised a number of gaps and a lot ambiguity in the law making process, which has caused a lot of inconvenience to the common people². Moreover, the interpretation of these ambiguous laws takes so much longer that it has increased the burden on the judiciary.This trend is not new, but has consistently risen significantly in the last few years, which is clearly highlighted from the sharp downwards trend of referring the bills to be scrutinised by standing committees- from 71% in 15^th Lok Sabha, to 27% in 16^th Lok Sabha and to 12% in the current one. These are very disturbing figures, given that these rushed laws will shape the future of 1.3 billion people of India³.

Shrinking Work Time of Parliament

Disruption of parliament is not new, but there was a new low set on several other accounts. Firstly, the working time of Loksabha and Rajya Sabha which was 22% and 28% respectively of the total allotted time. Secondly, the lack of debates and the fact that average time for passing a bill was less than 10 minutes. Thirdly, the fact the not a single bill was sent to a committee. As a result, it didn’t come as a surprise that the

*   8^th Semester, BA-LLB -Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala

1 Figures of PRS Legislative Research, available at: www.prsindia.org

2 Address by CJI Ramana at SCBA event, 15.08.21.

3 The Hindu- 13.08.2021, ‘Parliament is abdicating its oversight role’,M.R. Madhvan.

parliament was adjourned 11 days before the scheduled tenure.⁴ Taking a dig at the hastened passing of bills TMC MP, Derek O’Brien even compared the current law making process to making chaat papdi at a wedding.

Parliamentary Democracy, Without a Functional Parliament

The ineffectiveness of parliament has made India a defunct parliamentary democracy without a functioning parliament⁵. Due to the constant disruptions, the session was marked by the fact that the parliament of the world’s largest democracy was unable to carry out its two of the most important functions - legislating and holding the government to account. Although, more than 20 bills were passed in this session, but the manner in which they were passed is no better than an elected autocracy.

Destruction of Checks and Balances

Parliament is meant to keep the executive actions of the government in check, by questioning, discussing and debating the issues of national importance. But due to an absence of zero hour, the parliamentarians are left with no medium to discuss the prevailing issues. This has made the parliament a rubber stamp institution where the bills made by the executive are passed by the legislature in a mechanical way, without any input from the representatives of the people.

Oversight by the Parliamentary Committees

The parliamentary committees are envisaged with the responsibility of detailed scrutiny of the bills. These committees provide a forum for parliamentarians to engage with all the stakeholders, experts and government officials to understand the implications of the bill. The bills are referred to the committees by the chair and are returned to the Parliament with an exhaustive report. The committee consists of small units of MPs from across the party lines and function throughout the year.In the recent times some of the most important bills were passed by the parliament without referring the same to the committee. The list includes the J&K Reorganisation Act,The Labour Codes, The IBC Amendment Act etc. Moreover, taking the garb of pandemic the meetings of most of these committees have been consistently deferred.

Are we moving towards an elected Autocracy?

Parliament is the forum of politics and discussion. It is a bipartisan institution where the parliamentarians move across aisles to raise the issues faced by the common man. Without proper functioning of the parliament, all other democratic institutes crumbles, and autocratic tendency arises. Hence, it’s quintessential for the parliament to function for the very survival of the democracy. Washing away of all the procedures

4 Ibid

5 Parliament Without Functioning Parliament, Shoaib Daniyal, Scroll.

meant to keep the executive in check has led to the derogation of parliament, hence it’s a high time to take the corrective measures in order to protect the sanctity of democratic spirit of the parliament.

Need for Course Correction

To sum up, Parliament appeared to be quite ineffective in all its functioning in the recent session, the worrisome reason being the obsolete code of conduct which has failed to serve in the dire times. The need of the hour calls for immediate reforms, which could help bolstering the trust of people in the parliament. The code should be modified to include minimum days that parliament should function, mandatory referral of bills to select committees and for debate subsequently. Furthermore, the debates regarding the bills should be laid down in a certain format that it covers all the aspects, implications and the issues that may arise due to passing of such an act.