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President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday disapproved of the ‘ordinance route’ to law making, but also termed the mechanism of joint session of Parliament to break a deadlock and a pass laws “not practicable”.
The President, himself a veteran parliamentarian, called for Parliament becoming a more effective platform to discuss people’s concerns, and deplored frequent disruption of proceedings. “A noisy minority cannot be allowed to gag a patient majority,” he said.
Mukherjee made these observations replying to questions after his address to central universities and research institutions. The president said Parliament should not yield its space for legislation and policy-making to mass mobilisations and street protests.
It is, however, his views on ordinances that would make the Narendra Modi government sit up and take note. The president had recently called three senior ministers, including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, and raised questions over the urgency of the ordinance relating to acquisition of land. However, he later gave assent to it.
The government has promulgated as many as nine ordinances in its nearly eight-month tenure. The Coal Mines (Special) Provisions ordinance has been promulgated twice. Other ordinances include amending rules to facilitate the appointment of the prime minister’s principal secretary, Nripendra Misra, land acquisition, raising the foreign direct investment limit in insurance, etc.
Mukherjee said ordinances were meant for specific purpose, “to meet an extraordinary situation under extraordinary circumstances”. Explaining provisions under the Constitution, he said when the government issues an ordinance, it is also taking the risk of getting them lapsed if these cannot get them approved by the Houses — the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha — within a maximum of six months. He said the Constitution had all the safeguards to ensure such a provision was meant only for “an extraordinary situation under extraordinary circumstances.”
Referring to the supremacy of regional parties in states affecting the strength of national parties in the Rajya Sabha, the president said, “Therefore, their (Rajya Sabha) consent is required to avert extreme cases through the joint session, which is a constitutional provision but it is not practicable because I have seen from 1952 till today, only four times laws were passed by a joint session.”
The last such joint session was in March 2002. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance government convened a joint session to get the Prevention of Terrorism Act passed. Other instances of joint sessions were for the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961 and the Banking Services Commission Repeal Bill of 1978.
The president said it was “incumbent on the ruling party and opposition to sit together and find a workable solution to avoid disruptions.” He said disruptions were not the way to parliamentary intervention.
“The ruling party has a major role in the running of Parliament and should take an initiative and the Opposition should cooperate because only informed discussion and dialogue in the spirit of accommodation should allow enactment of law for the betterment of people,” the president said.
“I request both ruling and Opposition parties to share their concerns, to see that disruptions be avoided and Parliament should start functioning,” he said.
The president said: “Dissent is a recognised democratic expression, but disruption leads to loss of time and resources, and paralyses policy formulation... But, under no circumstances should there be disruption of the proceedings. A noisy minority cannot be allowed to gag a patient majority.”
He said India’s diversity and the magnitude of its problems require that the Parliament becomes a more effective platform to build consensus on public policies and a bulwark of our democratic ideals. “The proceedings in Parliament must be conducted in a spirit of cooperation, harmony and purpose. The content and quality of debates should be of a high order. Maintenance of discipline and decorum in the House and observance of etiquette and decency are necessary,” Mukherjee said.
He said mass mobilisations might not always provide considered solutions to our problems, and Parliament should not surrender its law and policy making responsibilities to street protests.
“To retain the trust and faith of the people, Parliament must enact laws to put in place policies that address the concerns and aspirations of the people,” he said.
