- Parliamentary
privileges are
special rights, immunities and exemptions enjoyed by the two Houses of
Parliament, their committees and their members. They are necessary in
order to secure the independence and effectiveness of their actions.
Without these privileges, the Houses can neither maintain their authority,
dignity and honour nor can protect their members from any obstruction in
the discharge of their parliamentary responsibilities. The Constitution
has also extended the parliamentary privileges to those persons who are
entitled to speak and take part in the proceedings of a House of
Parliament or any of its committees. These include the Attorney General of
India and Union ministers. The parliamentary privileges do not extend to
the President who is also an integral part of the Parliament.
- A breach of privilege is a violation of any of the privileges of MPs/Parliament. Among other things, any action ‘casting reflections’ on MPs, parliament or its committees could be considered breach of privilege. This may include publishing of news items, editorials or statements made in newspaper/magazine/TV interviews or in public speeches.
- In the 14th Lok Sabha, former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash Kashyap was found guilty of breach of privilege and reprimanded by the House for an article that was judged to lower the dignity of the Speaker.
In 1967, two people were held to be in contempt
of Rajya Sabha, for having thrown leaflets from the visitor’s gallery. The Parliament
has the right to publish its reports, debates and proceedings and also the
right to prohibit others from publishing the same. The 44th Amendment Act of 1978 restored
the freedom of the press to publish true reports of parliamentary
proceedings without prior permission of the House. But this is not
applicable in the case of a secret sitting of the House.