Congress moves privilege motion against PM

Congress moves privilege motion against PM

Subject : Polity

Section: Parliament

Concept :

• Congress leader KC Venugopal moved a motion of privilege against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Rajya Sabha for his alleged defamatory remarks against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in his speech at the last Parliament session.

Privilege motion

• Privilege motion is concerned with the breach of parliamentary privileges by a minister.
• Breach of Privileges
• Parliamentary Privileges are certain rights and immunities enjoyed by members of Parliament, individually and collectively, so that they can “effectively discharge their functions”.
• When any of these rights and immunities are disregarded, the offence is called a breach of privilege and is punishable under law of Parliament.
• A notice is moved in the form of a motion by any member of either House against those being held guilty of breach of privilege.
• Role of the Speaker/Rajya Sabha (RS) Chair
• The Speaker/RS chairperson is the first level of scrutiny of a privilege motion.
• The Speaker/Chair can decide on the privilege motion himself or herself or refer it to the privileges committee of Parliament.
• If the Speaker/Chair gives consent under relevant rules, the member concerned is given an opportunity to make a short statement.
• Rules governing Privilege
• Rule No 222 in Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rule Book and correspondingly Rule 187 in Chapter 16 of the Rajya Sabha rulebook governs privilege.
• Rules say that a member may, with the consent of the Speaker or the Chairperson, raise a question involving a breach of privilege either of a member or of the House or a committee thereof.
• Privilege Committee
• It is a Standing Committee.
• It examines the cases of breach of the privileges of the House and its members and recommends appropriate action.
• The Lok Sabha committee has 15 members, while the Rajya Sabha committee has 10 members.