E-Paper
Decoding the functioning of ethics panel
The Ethics Committee plays a key role in upholding Parliament’s dignity and ensuring there are adequate checks and balances
The Ethics Committee, one of 36 parliamentary panels of the Lok Sabha which work through the year, plays a key role in upholding Parliament’s dignity and ensuring there are adequate checks and balances. It is, after all, the only committee that probes the lay person’s complaints against lawmakers of the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha has a similar panel.
When was it created?
The Rajya Sabha set up its ethics panel a year before the Lok Sabha did. A conference of the presiding officers of state assemblies and Parliament was organized in New Delhi in October, 1996. At the meeting, a number of legislative Speakers supported a proposal to set up ethics committees in both Parliament as well as state assemblies.
The Rajya Sabha constituted its first ethics panel on March 4, 1997 which was inaugurated by then Vice-President and House Chairman KR Narayanan on May 30, 1997.
The Lok Sabha took three more years to form the panel as political turmoil during that period (India saw three Prime Ministers between 1996 to 1998) delayed the setting up of such a panel, a move that required the support of various parties in the House.
The Lok Sabha’s privileges committee constituted a study group on January 31, 1997 to lay the ground for creating the ethics panel . However, the report could not be tabled as the Lok Sabha was dissolved on 4 December, 1997. While the report was subsequently presented on March 28 next year, the 12th Lok Sabha also dissolved in 1999. Finally, then Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi constituted the first Ethics Committee on May 16, 2000.
What is role of the panel?
The parliamentary portal says, the ethics committee will “oversee the moral and ethical conduct of the members and examine cases referred to it with reference to ethical and other misconduct of members.”
In the Lok Sabha, both the privileges and the ethics panel come under the same branch. While the privileges committee looks into complaints raised by MPs against officials, media or other MPs, the ethics panel handles common people’s complaints against lawmakers. The original terms of reference of the panel says its mandate is “to oversee the moral and ethical conduct of the members; and to examine the cases referred to it with reference to ethical and other misconduct of the members.”
Can anyone complain against an MP?
Yes. Any Indian citizen can lodge a complaint against a lawmaker. But in 2014 a sub-committee suggested that such a provision would allow any political rival to lodge complaints against a lawmaker on flimsy grounds. The rule was modified to the extent that a complaint have to be submitted to the panel through a lawmaker. “The idea was that a lawmaker would try to protect a fellow MP from non-serious allegations.”
In the case of Mahua Moitra, her former friend Jai Anant Dehadrai’s complaint was forwarded to the Lok Sabha Speaker by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey.
How does the panel work?
All allegations against MPs first come to the Lok Sabha Speaker or the Rajya Sabha Chairman. In the case of the Lok Sabha, the Speaker takes a call on the complaints and refers it to the ethics panel.
The panel calls the complainants to hear them and crossexamine their allegations. Thereafter, the concerned MP is called by the panel for deposition. After listening to both sides, the panel members discuss and finalize a report, which is given to the Lok Sabha Speaker.
If the panel recommends any punitive action, a motion is brought to the House based on the proposal and it is voted upon.
Why allegations against Moitra were referred to Ethics panel?
On October 19, advocate and Moitra’s former friend Jai Anant Dehadrai’s complaint was sent to the Speaker by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey. According to officials, the issues were related to the moral and ethical in nature. Also, it was a complaint against the MP for corruption issues.
