At a time when both Houses of Parliament are being disrupted over the issue of demonetisation, senior MP and former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the lack of proper debates was weakening legislative power.
Speaking at the tenth anniversary seminar of PRS Legislative Research, an NGO, the Congress leader said there is a jostling for space between the legislature and the judiciary.
He said one reason for the decline of legislative power was that the Assemblies and Parliament spent fewer hours on debates. “Parliament meets for three sessions. Some legislatures meet for less than six days a year. Questions hardly elicit full and frank answers. Poorer debate is disappointing,” Chidambaram said.
Citing his own example, the Rajya Sabha MP said he had participated in just one debate since July. “I am paid huge amount of money to be an MP. But I have spoken exactly for 30 minutes since July 2016. There are others who wish to speak, they have not spoken. Some are not allowed to speak due to disruptions,” he added.
Chidambaram said weaker political authority is also a reason for decline of legislative power. In a veiled support to the BJP’s agenda of holding simultaneous elections to Parliament and Assemblies, he said the problem of lack of political authority is compounded because the Rajya Sabha is often contrarian to the Lok Sabha.
“The cycle of elections to the Lok Sabha and the cycle of elections to the Rajya Sabha are different. A party with an absolute majority in Lok Sabha will take at least three biennial elections to reflect the composition of Lok Sabha in Rajya Sabha. But by that time another general election will take place and the composition of Lok Sabha will change,” he said, adding that he was not suggesting any answers.
On judicial appointmentsHe urged the Centre to arrive at a consensus with the judiciary on the National Judicial Appointments Commission. He said if the Supreme Court has certain objections to the contents of the NJAC Bill, the Centre should be ready to make necessary changes. He said the judicial appointments are pending in High Courts and Supreme Courts due to the tiff between the Centre and the apex court.