The All India Whips Conference here has called upon Parliament and the legislatures to consider codification of privileges to remove the uncertainty surrounding them and address the anxieties of the people and the press.
Addressing presspersons at the end of the two-day conference on Tuesday, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar said the Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs would form a panel from members attending the conference to codify privileges and then pursue that with the presiding officers to be adopted by the respective Houses.
The meeting, he said, concluded that the role of whips and chief whips, along with that of members of Parliament and legislatures, was important to ensure floor management.
Mr. Javadekar said the meeting called for ensuring discipline and decorum in the functioning of Parliament and legislatures to live up to the expectations of the people. It emphasised that the legislature, the executive and the judiciary had clear-cut roles to play, must respect one other and should not encroach upon each other’s domain.
The meeting recommended the number of working days a year to be fixed for legislatures.
Expressing concern over the growing indiscipline and lack of decorum in the Houses, the meeting recommended that some sort of code was considered desirable for maintaining discipline and decorum in the House. It went on to recommend a code of conduct for members, which should be adopted on a consensus.
