Whips have become mute spectators in House: Hamid Ansari

MUMBAI, Feb 4 (Agencies): In a scathing review of how legislatures function in the country, Vice President Hamid Ansari today said that whips have been merely reduced to "mute spectators".

"Whips are mute spectators (to the disruptions in the House) and fail in their primary duty to facilitate functioning of the legislature," Ansari said, while inaugurating the 14th All India Whips' Conference here.

Reflecting on the declining number of seatings per year, rise in number of hours lost due to disruptions and increase in number of MPs with criminal records, Ansari said that "the writing on the wall is clear.

Instrumentalities at the disposal of legislatures have been blunted to become dysfunctional".

Ansari reminded the audience of the resolutions taken in 1997, on the occasion of India's 50th year of Independence, which called to maintain inviolability of Question Hour, avoid rushing into the well of the office, sloganeering and interruptions during the President's speech.

"Ten years later each of these commitments have been breached," he said, adding that "deliberative functions of the legislature are decidedly on decline", and "deliberative role of the Parliament must be restored by increasing the number of seatings to about 130 days per year".

In the last decade, Lok Sabha had mere an average 81 seatings per year, while for the Rajya Sabha this figure was 71.3, he said.

In the United States, Congress has about 150 seatings per year, he added.

Disruptions during the Question Hour amount to breach of legislator's privilege, as the members are denied the right to get answers to starred questions, Ansari said.

Political parties have not been careful about how they select their representatives, the Vice President said, adding that in the current Lok Sabha, 23 per cent of the MPs have cases registered About us | Advertise | Other Publications | Subscriptions | Weather | Letters | Send Mail Disclaimer: Information is being made available at this site purely as a measure of public facilitation.

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