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Legislators should be role models: Somnath

CHANDIGARH: Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Sunday expressed concern over the “decline of personal integrity and probity in public life” and called for reinforcing “public faith in our democratic institutions.”

Inaugurating the 73rd Conference of Presiding Officers of Legislative Bodies in India at the Haryana Vidhan Sabha here, Mr.Chatterjee emphasised that Legislators should be role models both inside and outside the House.

Interestingly, he ratified the ‘demand’ to introduce a system of “recall” to deal with elected representatives who ignored the interests of the people and were “guilty of malfeasance and improper conduct or indulged in corrupt or criminal activities.”

He further asserted that in such a case, the “constituents should be in a position to demand the Member’s recall before the expiry of his term.”

Regarding the growing sense of disillusionment and despair among the public because of the manner of functioning of the elected representatives, he said that the Legislature had come in for greater share of public criticism because of the conduct of Members inside the Chambers leading to frequent disruptions and the resultant inability of the House to transact business, wastage of time and public money. The “indiscipline and misconduct of members of Legislatures was a matter of great concern and the malaise still remained acute, ”he added.

Mr.Chatterjee said that while upholding parliamentary privileges, Members of Parliament and State Legislatures must remember that these privileges exist to enable them to discharge their responsibilities without any fear or hindrance. The Committee of Privileges of the Lok Sabha considered the relevant aspects of Parliamentary privileges and in its report recommended against codification of parliamentary privileges, he added.

Asserting that the incident of July 22, 2008 during the debate on the Motion of Confidence moved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Lok Sabha should never be repeated anywhere, he said the Report of the seven-member Committee, which was inquiring into the complaints made by the three Members who are alleged to have been approached with the offer of money for their votes, was awaited and all necessary action would be taken after its submission.

Regarding “time management in Legislatures”, he asserted that, besides various other factors, unruly conduct and interruptions leading to forced adjournments had become a serious problem.

Virtually describing the ‘Zero Hour’ as the most ‘unruly period’ of the House proceedings, he asserted that the time had come “when we must seriously consider the desirability of having the Zero Hour.”

He asserted that today’s political atmosphere, characterised by intolerance, divisiveness, confrontation and disrespect was increasingly corroding our socio-political system. Confrontational politics, based on political polarisation around primordial loyalties of caste, religion, region and language, had only accentuated existing societal fault lines.

Mr.Chaterjee expressed concern that political power had become an instrument to promote a partisan and sectarian agenda, which was coming in the way of achieving an inclusive democracy. Hence the “need to make suitable changes in our individual and collective behaviour to strengthen our democratic institutions.”

Mr.Chatterjee asserted that the Presiding Officers must “not look on helplessly and allow the whole system to steadily degenerate but take a pro-active stand to tackle the issues head on”. “In this context, I strongly recommend that we begin with setting our Houses in order, literally.” The Lok Sabha made history when it expelled 10 Members in 2005 in the cash for query scam and the “House has demonstrated its resolve to cleanse itself, and this process of self-cleansing must continue”, he added.

In his welcome speech, Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Dr. Raghuvir Singh Kadian said that during last more than eight decades, the annual conferences of Presiding Officers had discussed matters of crucial importance to parliamentary democracy, its institutions and rules of procedure. In these conferences, several meaningful recommendations had been made and resolutions passed which had strengthened the parliamentary system.

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