Taking a dim view of Parliamentary disruptions, Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu said on Monday that there should be a specific provision to automatically disqualify members who rush into the well of the House.
He added that legislatures should start displaying in public domain the names of members who violate rules and disrupt House proceedings.
Mr. Naidu – who is also ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha – was speaking on the importance of legislatures at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library here.
“To address the menace of members rushing to the well of the House, there is a need for specific provision in the Rules of Business for automatic suspension of members who do so,” he said. “A consensus in this regard needs to be evolved…”
He added, “While the Presiding Officers need to enforce the Rules of Business to ensure smooth functioning of the Houses, stopping members from entering the well of the House has come to be an intractable issue. I suggest that legislatures may display the names of the Members in public domain with an observation that they have violated the Rules in disregard of the directions of the Chair and thereby adversely impacting the functioning of the House.”
Legislative effectiveness
Underlining that legislative effectiveness be measured, Mr. Naidu said, “To say that a legislature has met for 40 or 50 days and passed 30 or 40 bills gives only a brief glimpse into legislature’s functioning. We need a more holistic assessment of efficiency based on different parameters like the number of sittings, Bills passed, Bills held up, the extent of participation of members, duration of debates on each Bill... I intend to soon discuss these issues with the Lok Sabha Speaker and other Presiding Officers for taking forward this idea.”
