There
are several parliamentary devices for raising
matters of public importance. Calling Attention is one of these devices.
Under this procedural device, a
Member has to take prior permission of the Speaker to call the attention of a
Minister to any matter of urgent public importance and the Minister may make a
brief statement thereon. There shall be no debate on such a statement at
the time it is made. After the statement, brief clarifications
can be sought from the Minister by the Member who has initiated the Calling
Attention and other Members whose names appear in the List of Business are
called by the Speaker. Only those matters which are primarily
the concern of the Union Government can be120 raised through a Calling Attention notice. The
Calling Attention procedure is an Indian innovation which combines asking a
question with140 (1) supplementary
questions and making brief comments; the Government also gets
adequate opportunity to state its case. The Calling Attention matter
is not subject to the vote of the House.
The next
parliamentary device is Motion. The term `motion' in parliamentary parlance
means any formal proposal made to the House
by a Member for the purpose of eliciting a decision of the House. It
is phrased in such a way that, if adopted, it will purport to express the
judgement or will of the House. Any matter of importance can be the
subject matter of a motion. The mover of a240 motion frames it in a form in which he or she
wishes it ultimately to be passed by the House and on which a vote of
the House can conveniently be taken. Motions may be
classified into three broad categories,280 namely, substantive motions, substitute motions and subsidiary
motions. A substantive290 (2) motion is a
self-contained, independent proposal made in reference to a subject which the
mover wishes to bring forward. All Resolutions, Motions for
election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, and Motion of Thanks on the
Address by the President, etc. are examples of substantive motions. A
substitute motion is moved in substitution of the original motion for
taking into consideration a policy or situation or statement or any
other360 matter. Amendments to substitute
motions are not permissible. Subsidiary motions depend upon or
relate to other motions or follow up on some proceedings in the House. A
subsidiary motion has no meaning by itself and is not capable of stating the
decision of the House without reference to the original motion or the
proceedings of the House.
Adjournment
Motion is420 the procedure for adjournment of the business of
the House for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent
public importance, which can be moved with the consent of450 (3) the Speaker. The
Adjournment Motion, if admitted, leads to setting aside of the normal business
of the House for discussing the matter mentioned in the
motion. An adjournment motion must480 raise a matter of sufficient public importance
to warrant interruption of normal business of the House and the question of
public importance is decided on merit in each individual case. The
purpose of an Adjournment Motion is to take the Government to task for a
recent act of omission or commission having serious
consequences. Its adoption is regarded as a sort of censure of
the Government.
The
Government must always enjoy majority support in the popular House to remain in560 power. If need be, it has to
demonstrate its strength on the floor of the House by moving a Motion of
Confidence and winning the confidence of the House. In view of
the Constitutional provision regarding collective responsibility of the600 Council of Ministers to the Lok Sabha, a motion
expressing610 (4) want of confidence in an individual
Minister is out of order. Under the Rules, only a motion expressing want of
confidence in the Council of Ministers as a body is admissible. Rule
198 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha lays
down the procedure for moving a Motion of No-Confidence in the Council
of Ministers. A Motion of No-Confidence need not set out
any grounds on which it is based. Even when grounds are
mentioned in the notice and read out in the House,700 they do not form part of the No-confidence
Motion.
There
is another parliamentary device called Discussion under Rule720 193. It does not involve a formal motion before
the House. Hence, no voting can take place after discussion on
matters under this rule. The Member who
gives notice may make a short statement and such of the Members as have
previously intimated to the Speaker, may be770 (5) permitted to take part in the
discussion. The Member who raises the discussion has no right of
reply. At the end of the discussion, the Minister concerned
gives a brief reply. In order to provide opportunities to Members to discuss
matters of urgent public importance, a convention was established in March 1953
which was incorporated later into the Rules of Procedure and conduct of
Business in Lok Sabha840 under Rule 193 as Short Duration
Discussion. Under this Rule, Members can raise discussion for short
durations without a formal motion or vote thereon. Matters, which are not
points of order can be raised by way of
Special Mentions under Rule 377. This procedural device, framed in
1954, provides opportunity to the Members to raise matters of general public
interest. At present, the number of matters that can be raised by
Members under rule 377 on a single day is 20.
One930 (6) of the most important parliamentary
devices if the Zero Hour. The time immediately following the Question Hour and laying of papers and before any listed
business is taken up in960 the House has come to be popularly known as the980 `Zero Hour'. As it starts around 12
noon, this period is termed as `Zero Hour'. For raising matters
during the ‘Zero Hour’ in Lok Sabha, Members give notice every day to
the Speaker stating clearly the subject which they consider to be important and
wish to raise in the House. It is for the Speaker to allow or
not to allow for raising such matters in the
House. The term `Zero Hour' is not formally recognized in our parliamentary
procedure. At present, twenty matters per day as per their
priority in the ballot are allowed to be raised during "Zero
Hour". The order in which the matters will be raised1080 is decided by the Speaker at his or her
discretion.1090 (7) In the first phase,
5 matters of urgent national and international importance, as decided by
the Chair, are taken up after Question Hour and laying of
papers, etc. In the1120 second phase, the remaining admitted matters of urgent public
importance are taken up after 6.00 P.M. or at the end of the regular
business of the House. However, since there is no provision
in the rules regarding ‘Zero Hour’, hence there is no maximum limit on the
number of matters that can be raised on any given day.
A Resolution is a formal
expression of the sense, will or action of the Legislative
Body. Resolutions may be broadly divided into1200 three categories: In the first
category, there are resolutions
which are expression of opinion by the House. Since the
purpose of such a Resolution is merely to obtain an expression of opinion of
the House, the Government is not bound to give effect to the opinions
expressed in these Resolutions.1250 (8) In the second category, there are rresolutions which have statutory1260 effect. The notice of a Statutory Resolution is given in
pursuance of a provision in the Constitution or an Act of Parliament. Such
a Resolution, if adopted, is binding on the Government and has the force of law.
In the third category, there are resolutions which the House passes in the
matter of control over its own proceedings. It has the
force of law and its validity cannot be challenged in any court of law. The
House, by such a Resolution, evolves its own procedure to meet a situation not
specifically provided for in the Rules.
A Point of Order relates to the interpretation or
enforcement of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in
the House or convention or such Articles of the Constitution as regulate
the business of the House and raises a question which is within1400 (9) the cognizance of the
Speaker. A Point of Order may be raised only in relation to
the business before the House at the moment, provided that the
Speaker may permit a Member to raise a Point of Order during the interval
between the termination of one item of business and the commencement of another
if it relates to maintenance of order or arrangement of business before the
House. A Member may formulate a Point of Order and the Speaker shall
decide whether the point raised is a Point of Order and give the decision
thereon, which is final.
The Constitution provides for an Address by the
President to either House or both Houses assembled
together. The Constitution also makes incumbent upon the President
to address both Houses of Parliament assembled together at the commencement
of the first Session after each (10) General Election to the Lok Sabha
and at the commencement of the first Session each year and inform the Parliament
of the causes of its summons.
