Parliament: structure, law making and privileges

The first principle

In a parliamentary democracy the people govern through the House they elect, so that House must have the last word on law and money. A federal country also needs a second voice, for the states and for second thoughts, but that voice must not be able to block the people's House for ever. The Indian Parliament is built on this balance: the Lok Sabha is supreme on money and confidence, the Rajya Sabha revises and represents the states, and both enjoy privileges so that members can speak and vote without fear.

The core

Composition

• Three parts. Under Article 79, Parliament consists of the President, the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House of the People (Lok Sabha). The President sits in neither House, but no Bill becomes law without his assent.
• Lok Sabha. It has 543 members elected directly from single member constituencies, within the Article 81 ceiling of 530 from states and 20 from Union territories, since nomination of Anglo Indians ended in 2020 under the One hundred and fourth Amendment.
• Rajya Sabha. Article 80 allows up to 250 members: up to 238 elected by the elected members of state and Union territory Assemblies through proportional representation by single transferable vote, and 12 nominated by the President for literature, science, art and social service. It is a permanent body, with one third of members retiring every second year.

Sessions

• Summoning. Article 85 requires the President to summon each House so that no more than six months pass between the last sitting of one session and the first sitting of the next. By convention there are three sessions: Budget, Monsoon and Winter.

How a Bill becomes law

• Readings. An ordinary Bill passes through a first reading (introduction), a second reading (discussion, possible reference to a committee, clause by clause consideration) and a third reading, when the House votes on the whole Bill, and then repeats these stages in the other House.
• Assent. Under Article 111 the President may give assent, withhold it, or return a Bill (other than a money Bill) once for reconsideration. If both Houses pass it again, he must assent.

Types of Bills

• Ordinary Bills may start in either House, need a simple majority in each, and a deadlock can go to a joint sitting.
• Money Bills (Article 110) deal only with the matters the Article lists, such as taxes, borrowing by the government, and payments into or out of the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI). They can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha on the President's recommendation, and the Rajya Sabha can only make recommendations within 14 days, which the Lok Sabha is free to reject (Article 109). Whether a Bill is a money Bill is certified by the Speaker, and Article 110(3) calls that decision final.
• Financial Bills under Article 117(1) contain a money Bill matter along with other matters. They too start only in the Lok Sabha on the President's recommendation, but after that the Rajya Sabha has full power to amend or reject them.
• Financial Bills under Article 117(3) involve spending from the CFI but no Article 110 matter, so they can start in either House, with the President's recommendation needed before consideration.
• Constitution amendment Bills under Article 368 need a special majority in each House separately.

The money Bill controversy

• The Aadhaar case. In K. S. Puttaswamy v Union of India (2018), the Court upheld by four to one the passing of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 as a money Bill. Justice D. Y. Chandrachud, dissenting, called the use of the money Bill route a fraud on the Constitution, since the Act went well beyond Article 110 and bypassed the Rajya Sabha.
• The reference. In Rojer Mathew v South Indian Bank (2019), a five judge bench hearing a challenge to tribunal changes in the Finance Act, 2017, held that the Speaker's certificate is open to judicial review, doubted the majority's reasoning in the Aadhaar case and referred the meaning of Article 110 to a larger bench.

The joint sitting

• When it can happen. Under Article 108 the President may summon a joint sitting when the other House rejects a Bill, when the Houses finally disagree on amendments, or when more than six months pass without the other House passing it. The Speaker presides, and a majority of both Houses present and voting decides, which favours the larger Lok Sabha.
• When it cannot. There is no joint sitting on a money Bill, because the Rajya Sabha has no power to hold one up, and none on a Constitution amendment Bill, because Article 368 requires each House to pass it separately.
• Use so far. Joint sittings have been held only three times: on the Dowry Prohibition Bill (1961), the Banking Service Commission (Repeal) Bill (1978) and the Prevention of Terrorism Bill (2002).

The budget in brief

• Steps. After the Annual Financial Statement (Article 112) is presented and discussed, the Lok Sabha alone votes the Demands for Grants (Article 113); charged expenditure, such as judges' salaries, is discussed but not voted. The Appropriation Bill (Article 114) then authorises withdrawal from the CFI and the Finance Bill gives effect to tax proposals.

Dimensions

The Rajya Sabha's special powers

• National interest legislation (Article 249). The Rajya Sabha may, by a resolution supported by two thirds of members present and voting, allow Parliament to legislate on a State List subject for one year at a time.
• All India Services and emergencies. A similar resolution allows Parliament to create a new All India Service (Article 312), and if an emergency is proclaimed when the Lok Sabha stands dissolved, approval by the Rajya Sabha alone keeps it alive until 30 days after the new Lok Sabha first sits.

From a spare wheel to a revising chamber

• Coalition and divided majorities. From 1989 to 2014 no single party had a Lok Sabha majority, and even after 2014 the ruling coalition lacked a Rajya Sabha majority for several years. Governments had to negotiate, which made the Rajya Sabha a real check.
• Select committee scrutiny. The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, passed by the Lok Sabha in 2011, was referred to a Rajya Sabha select committee, and the Act of 2013 carried many of its changes. In 2015 the Bill to amend the land acquisition law, backed by repeated ordinances, could not pass the Rajya Sabha, and the government let the ordinance lapse.
• Quality of debate and the states' voice. Nominated experts and senior leaders often raise the level of debate, and the House speaks for the states on federal questions.

Legislative Councils

• Creation and abolition. Under Article 169 Parliament may create or abolish a Legislative Council if the state Assembly asks for it by a resolution passed by a majority of its total membership and two thirds of members present and voting. Such a law is not treated as an amendment under Article 368.
• Size and make up. Article 171 caps a Council at one third of the Assembly's strength, with a minimum of 40. Its members come from five sources, shown in the figure below.
• Status. Six states have Councils: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. The Jammu and Kashmir Council was abolished by the Reorganisation Act, 2019. Proposals for Rajasthan and Assam have long been pending in Parliament, Odisha's Assembly asked for one in 2018, and Andhra Pradesh resolved to abolish its Council in 2020 only to withdraw the resolution in 2021.
• For and against. Supporters say a Council brings in teachers, graduates and experts and gives hasty laws a second look. Critics answer that it can only delay a Bill (three months, then one month, under Article 197) and often serves as a back door for leaders who lose elections.

In practice

Parliamentary privileges

• What they are. Article 105 (and Article 194 for state legislatures) gives members freedom of speech in the House and immunity from court proceedings for anything said or any vote given there. Other privileges, such as punishing for contempt, are those the Houses held when the Forty fourth Amendment came into force (rooted in House of Commons practice), and since Parliament has never made the law the Article envisages, they remain uncodified.
• Bribery is not protected. In P. V. Narasimha Rao (1998) a majority had held members who took bribes to vote against a no confidence motion immune. In Sita Soren v Union of India (March 2024), a seven judge bench unanimously overruled this: bribery is complete when the bribe is taken and is not needed for a legislator's work, so Articles 105 and 194 do not shield it.

The Chairman of the Rajya Sabha

• Office. The Vice President is the ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (Articles 64 and 89) but is not a member, so he has no vote except a casting vote in a tie (Article 100).
• Role. The Chairman keeps order and decorum, interprets the rules, admits motions, and decides petitions to disqualify Rajya Sabha members under the Tenth Schedule.
• Removal. Under Article 67(b) the Vice President can be removed by a resolution of the Rajya Sabha passed by a majority of all its then members and agreed to by the Lok Sabha, after 14 days' notice.

Issues and way forward

• Misuse of the money Bill route. Labelling wide laws as money Bills lets a Lok Sabha majority bypass the second chamber. The larger bench should settle a strict reading of the word "only" in Article 110, and the Speaker could record reasons when certifying a Bill.
• Uncodified privileges. Without a law their limits are unclear and privilege can be turned against the press; codification would make them certain while keeping freedom of speech intact.
• Councils decided by politics. Creation and abolition swing with the party in power; a national policy on when a state should have a Council would add stability.

Common confusions

• Money Bill and financial Bill. A money Bill contains only Article 110 matters and the Rajya Sabha cannot amend or reject it; a financial Bill under Article 117(1) contains those matters plus others, and the Rajya Sabha can amend or reject it like an ordinary Bill.
• Lapse of Bills. On dissolution, Bills pending in the Lok Sabha, or passed by it and pending in the Rajya Sabha, lapse; a Bill pending in the Rajya Sabha that the Lok Sabha has not passed survives.
• Adjournment, prorogation and dissolution. The presiding officer adjourns a sitting, the President prorogues a session (pending Bills survive), and dissolution ends the Lok Sabha itself; the Rajya Sabha is never dissolved.
• Chairman and Speaker. Both preside and decide defection cases in their Houses, but only the Speaker certifies money Bills and presides over a joint sitting.

For the exam

• Keyword bank: Article 79, bicameralism, money Bill, Speaker's certificate, financial Bill, Article 117(3), joint sitting, Article 108, Article 249, revising chamber, Legislative Council, Article 169, parliamentary privilege, Sita Soren, Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
• Practise the previous year questions on this topic →
• Use in an answer:
  • Introduction with data: "A joint sitting under Article 108 has been held only three times since 1950, the last in 2002, so the Houses usually settle differences by negotiation."
  • Introduction with a judgement: "In Sita Soren v Union of India (2024) the Supreme Court held that parliamentary privilege protects a member's freedom to speak and vote, not a bribe taken to do either."
  • Conclusion: "Parliament works best when the Lok Sabha's supremacy on money and confidence is respected and the Rajya Sabha's role as a revising chamber is not bypassed through the money Bill route."
  • Conclusion: "Clear limits on money Bill certification and codified privileges would strengthen both the bicameral balance and the public's trust in Parliament."