Lok Sabha - Lecture notes 1 PDF

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Summary

Lok SabhaThe Lok Sabha, which was intended to be the popular House in contrast to the Rajya Sabha, is the representative chamber of the Indian Parliament, with its members elected directly by the people from territorial constituencies of the states and union territories that are distributed througho...

Description

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, which was intended to be the popular House in contrast to the Rajya Sabha, is the representative chamber of the Indian Parliament, with its members elected directly by the people from territorial constituencies of the states and union territories that are distributed throughout the country. It currently has 545 members, who are distributed among the states in such a way that the ratio between the number of seats allotted to each state and the population of the state is, as far as possible, the same for all states, with appropriate reservations of seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The Lok Sabha, which was elected for a five-year term to begin with, can be dissolved by the President in certain exceptional circumstances. The Lok Sabha can also be extended by Parliament for a duration of one year at a time during times of national emergency, but elections must be held within six months of the declaration of the state of emergency being withdrawn. Aside from his normal tasks of chairing Lok Sabha sessions and managing its proceedings, the Speaker has additional obligations in the operation of the country's democratic legislative system. A Deputy Speaker is usually present to help the Speaker in carrying out his duties while the former is absent or when the Speaker's office is vacant, but this is not always the case. The Lok Sabha, like the British House of Commons, has been placed on a higher pedestal than the Upper House in respect of those domains of operations that are fundamental to the concept of parliamentary democracy. This is due to its status as the lower House with true representational character. Most notable among these sectors are clauses on the money bill, in which the Lower House has a monopoly role and the Upper House's role is constrained to the point that it is subservient, if not completely irrelevant. For example, the powers of the Lok Sabha are exclusive from the time a bill is certified as a money bill until it is finally passed by the Parliament. A money bill can only be submitted in the Lok Sabha once the Speaker has certified that it is a money bill in the first place. Its position has become so precarious in this regard that not only is it barred from voting on Demands for Grants, but if it fails to return the bill to the Lok Sabha within

fourteen days, the bill will be deemed to have been enacted by the Rajya Sabha. One of the most important prerogatives of the Lok Sahba is the ability to hold the administration accountable through the passage of a vote of no confidence in the Council of Ministers. For governments that are only concerned with preserving their position in power and are not concerned with the governance of the country, such as those formed by coalition or minority governments, the functional sphere of Parliament may be reduced to that which pertains solely to the Lok Sabha, with no consideration given to the views of the Rajya Sabha, as is the case with coalition and minority governments. In practise, however, the exclusivity of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha's separate domains does not entail a prejudicial assessment of the distinct views of the two Houses. The concept of Parliament is only complete if each House contributes to the role performance of the other by augmenting its own role performance. The two Houses have been assigned coterminus responsibilities on all non-money bill concerns, despite the fact that they are seen to be in a reasonable state of balance as a result of an indirect check on one another. Thus, critical activities such as amending the Constitution, impeaching high-ranking officials such as the President, and other similar tasks must be carried out by each of the two Houses independently. Above all, the two Houses must function as the two wheels of the institution of Parliament in order to ensure its successful functioning; otherwise, an unnecessary dispute over the issue of their respective domains would serve no purpose other than to lower the public's opinion of Parliament as a whole, which would be detrimental to its overall reputation....