Parliament and Legislative Procedure Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The 'twin sisters' are the Public Accounts Committee and Estimates Committee.

Both are financial committees that examine government expenditure. The Estimates Committee looks at the budget estimates and suggests economies in public spending before and while the money is spent, while the Public Accounts Committee scrutinises the accounts and the Comptroller and Auditor General's audit reports after the money is spent. Because they work on the same subject at different stages, they are described as twin sisters.

The Committee on Public Undertakings, formed in 1964, is the third financial committee but is not part of the 'twin' description. The other pairs are not financial committees at all.

Answer: D

The ground that does not allow a joint sitting is the President's refusal to give his assent to the Bill.

Under Article 108, the President may summon a joint sitting of the two Houses when, after a Bill passed by one House is sent to the other, the other House rejects it; or the Houses finally disagree on amendments to be made in it; or more than six months pass from its receipt by the other House without its being passed. These are exactly the first three options.

A refusal of assent is different: it arises only after both Houses have already passed the Bill, so there is no disagreement between the Houses for a joint sitting to resolve. The President's options at that stage lie under Article 111, not Article 108.

Answer: C

All three provisions are correct: All three.

Article 113(3) provides that no demand for a grant shall be made except on the recommendation of the President. Article 265 provides that no tax shall be levied or collected except by authority of law.

The third is part of the constitutional scheme of financial legislation: a proposal to impose or increase a tax needs the President's recommendation and must come from the government, so Parliament on its own can reduce or abolish a tax but cannot increase it.

Answer: D

All four statements are true, so the answer is None of the above.

When a new Lok Sabha meets, the Speaker of the last House has vacated office, so the President appoints a member of the new House, usually the senior-most, as Speaker pro tem (3). The President administers the oath to him (2). The pro tem Speaker presides over the first sitting, administers the oath to the newly elected members and conducts the election of the new Speaker (4).

His office ends as soon as the new Speaker is elected, so it is a temporary office (1). Since no statement is false, every option naming a statement is wrong.

Answer: B

The correct order is 5, 1, 4, 2, 3.

The budget passes through these stages in Parliament:

1. Presentation of the budget to the legislature.
2. General discussion on the budget as a whole.
3. Scrutiny by the departmental committees.
4. Voting on the demands for grants in the Lok Sabha.
5. Passing of the Appropriation Bill, which authorises withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund.
6. Passing of the Finance Bill, which gives effect to the tax proposals.

The Appropriation Bill comes before the Finance Bill, which rules out 5, 1, 4, 3, 2. Voting on demands must come before the Appropriation Bill, which rules out 5, 1, 3, 4, 2.

Answer: B

The key gives where it involves an interpretation of the Constitution.

Articles 122 and 212 bar the courts from questioning the validity of proceedings in Parliament or a state legislature on the ground of any alleged irregularity of procedure. The courts have held that this protects procedure only; a decision that is illegal or unconstitutional, or that turns on the meaning of the Constitution, can be examined. In Kihoto Hollohan (1992), for example, the Supreme Court held the Speaker's decisions on disqualification under the Tenth Schedule open to judicial review.

Questions of discipline, breach of privilege and expunging parts of the proceedings are matters of internal procedure and privilege that the House itself decides, so they are within the protection, not exceptions to it.

Answer: A

The word Parliament comes from the French word parler or parle, meaning to talk, option A.

It is not from Latin, Greek or Spanish, although the Latin parabolare is the distant root.

The French word parlement, from the verb parler, to speak, gave the English word, which was first used for assemblies in the thirteenth century. The word came into English through Anglo-Norman after the Norman conquest, and it is for that reason that the French source is accepted in the key.

Answer: D

The key takes both statements as true but [R] as not the explanation. The Attorney General has the right to speak in both Houses (Article 88), and he enjoys the privileges of a member of Parliament.

The privilege to speak does not follow from the immunities, so [R] does not explain [A]. Option D is the key, and the booklet tick agrees.

Article 88 gives the Attorney General the right to speak in, and take part in the proceedings of, both Houses, and Article 105(4) extends the privileges to him. He cannot vote. The reason does not explain the right to address, so the final key says that [R] is not the correct explanation.

Answer: C

The stages of the budget in ascending order are scrutiny by departmental committees (4), voting on demands for grants (1), passing of the Appropriation Bill (3) and passing of the Finance Bill (2), that is 4, 1, 3, 2.

Option (D) 3, 1, 4, 2 places the Appropriation Bill before the committees' scrutiny, which is wrong, and (A) and (B) place the Finance Bill too early.

The Union budget passes through presentation, general discussion, scrutiny by the departmental standing committees, voting on demands for grants, the Appropriation Bill and finally the Finance Bill.

Answer: B

Both statements are true and [R] explains [A]. Article 121 bars any discussion in Parliament of the conduct of a Supreme Court or High Court judge in the discharge of duties, except on a motion for removal, and the purpose is to protect the independence and dignity of the judiciary.

Because the objective given in [R] is the purpose of the bar in [A], option B is correct.

Article 124(4) provides the separate way to remove a judge by an address of Parliament, and Article 121 bars discussion of conduct except on such a motion.