Parliamentary committee on ethics
Parliamentary panel on ethics for lok sabha
What is ethics committee?
Parliamentary Committee on Ethics
Immediate context:
Recently a member of lok sabha was summoned by the lok sabha ethics panel to look into the allegations of wrong doing, particularly cash for query scandal.
What is ethics committee?
It is an in-house committee separately for lok sabha and rajya sabha, very much similar to other parliamentary committees, 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 Members.
When was ethics committee for Rajya Sabha formed?
Parliamentary Committee on Ethics
The Ethics Committee, Rajya Sabha, the first Committee of its kind created by any legislature in India. It was established by the then Chairman of Rajya Sabha, Shri K.R. Narayanan on 4 March 1997, 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 Members.
It was further provided that in all respects of procedure and other matters, the rules applicable to the Committee of Privileges shall apply to the Ethics Committee with such variations and modifications as the Chairman, Rajya Sabha may, from time to time, make.
When was ethics committee for Lok Sabha formed?
Parliamentary Committee on Ethics:
Speaker of 13th Lok Sabha G.M.C. Balayogi constituted the first Ethics Committee in Lok Sabha on 16 May, 2000 as an ad-hoc committee with the following terms of reference namely:-
(a) To oversee the moral and ethical conduct of the Members; and
(b) To examine the cases referred to it with reference to ethical and other misconduct of the Members.
Committee continued to be constituted at the commencement of a new lok sabha and dissolved with the dissolution of the house till the 16th lok sabha came into being. After a lot of alterations in subsequent lok sabha terms between 13th and 15th, the 16th lok sabha appointed it once again with the following observations.
The Committee reviewed the efforts during previous Lok Sabhas for making it a permanent Committee of the House. The Committee while appreciating the endeavours of the predecessor Committees observed that the ground realities have not changed and even today it continues to be an ad-hoc Committee of the House. The Committee took a considered view that the Rules regarding constitution of the Committee on Ethics, its functions etc., into the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha should be incorporated in the first place. This would set right the prevailing anomaly of referring the Ethics Committee as an ad-hoc Committee merely for want of necessary provisions in Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha.
The Committee accordingly in their first report on “Incorporation in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha Sabha of the rules regarding constitution of a Committee on Ethics, its functions and procedure to be followed by the Committee and procedure for making ethics complaints” had recommended that in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha the following new Chapter viz Chapter XXA containing provision regarding „Procedure for ethics complaints‟ may be added after Chapter XX of the Rules and further recommended that in Chapter XXVI of the Rules regarding Parliamentary Committees, rules relating to constitution, function and procedure of the Committee may be added.
The amendments proposed in the Rules were approved by the Lok Sabha and have come into force w.e.f. 12 August, 2015.