House rules and the weapon of expunction

Subject: Polity

Section: Parliament

Concept:

The expunction of portions of the speeches made by Opposition politicians in Parliament recently has sparked off a debate on an action taken by the Speaker and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

Rules of the house

Article 105 of the Constitution confers on members, freedom of speech in the House and immunity from interference by the court for anything said in the House.
Rule 380 of the Rules of procedure of the Lok Sabha and Rule 261 of the Rules of the Rajya Sabha give the power to the presiding officers of these Houses to expunge any words used in the debate which are defamatory, unparliamentary, undignified or indecent.
Once expunged they do not remain on record.
If anyone publishes them thereafter, they will be liable for breach of privilege of the House.
Rule 353 of the Lok Sabha regulates the procedure in that regard.
MPs are required to give “adequate advance notice” to the Speaker as well as the Minister concerned.
Rule does not prohibit the making of any allegation.
The only requirement is advance notice: Minister concerned will conduct an inquiry into the allegation
The allegation which necessitates advance notice, is of a defamatory or incriminatory nature.
If the allegation is neither defamatory nor incriminatory, the above rule would have no application.
The rule does not apply to an allegation against a Minister in the government.
The Council of Ministers is accountable to Parliament, the Members of the House have the right to question Ministers and make imputations against their conduct as Ministers.

Procedure while making an allegation against a Minister:

Such a procedure has been laid down by Speakers in the past.
Making an allegation against a Minister or the Prime Minister: The MP who makes an imputation against a Minister of the government should be sure about the factual basis of the allegation, and that he must take responsibility for it.
If the MP complies with this stipulation, then the allegation will be allowed to remain on record.

Two rulings made by the Speakers on some occasions:

On September 2, 1965 Prakash Vir Shastri, MP, made personal allegations against Humayun Kabir, the then Minister for Education:

Mere report in a newspaper about anything does not give you the privilege to raise it in the House.
That is not a sufficient basis for a member to make an allegation against a Minister, member or other dignitaries.
It is necessary to probe it further and satisfy oneself about it.

On December 21 1981 in the Lok Sabha, Bapusaheb Parulekar, MP, made a reference to an allegation against the then Railway Minister, Kedar Pande.

The member should, before making an allegation in the House, satisfy himself after making enquiries that there is a basis for the allegation.
The member should be prepared to accept the responsibility for the allegation
The member should be prepared to substantiate the allegation.