It is a matter of great pleasure for me to be with you here at the 75^th Conference of Presiding Officers of Legislative Bodies in India.  I am indeed delighted that the Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Assembly has organized the Conference in this historical city of Srinagar.  This picturesque valley has been the venue of three of our previous Conferences — the first in 1954, the second in 1970 and the third in 1987.  I am elated that the august forum has once again returned to this sublimely beautiful and invigorating state which has been aptly described as the ‘Paradise on the Earth’ by the eminent poet Firdaus .

Jammu & Kashmir with its majestic Himalayan ranges, shimmering lakes and warm, sincere and charming people has fascinated everyone over centuries.  Its pristine valleys, snowcapped mountains, meandering rivers, magnificent gardens and serene lakes have the magic to win the hearts of people from all over the world. Attending the present Conference of Presiding Officers in this breathtakingly beautiful place will indeed remain etched in the memory of all the participants. My complements to the Hon’ble Speaker of the Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Assembly and the Hon’ble Acting Chairman of the Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Council for organizing the Conference in this magnificent valley.

Since the previous Presiding Officers’s Conference held in Bhopal in February this year, Shri Akram Khan, Hon’ble Deputy Speaker of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha has joined the family of Presiding Officers.  I extend a hearty welcome to him. We have also had the Budget Session of our Parliament which commenced on 22nd February and concluded on 07th May.  In the course of the Session, the Lok Sabha held 32 sittings spread over nearly 138 hours.  During this period, the House transacted important financial, legislative and other business, including the adoption of the Motion of Thanks on the Address by the President. 

Several matters of immense public importance like the problem of rising prices and growing menace of Maoist violence in various parts of the country, particularly in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal were extensively debated during the Fourth Session of the Fifteenth Lok Sabha.  As many as 21 Bills were passed during the Session, including the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (Amendment) Bill, the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Bill, the National Green Tribunal Bill, the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill and the Prevention of Torture Bill.

We have always shown considerable flexibility regarding procedural issues in the Lok Sabha while conducting the business of the House. In this context, I would like to share with you a path breaking development that took place during the last session of the House.  On 27th April, before the submission of the outstanding Demands for Grants relating to the Ministries and Departments to the vote of the House, one of the  Hon’ble members of Lok Sabha raised a critical issue pertaining to the right of members of the House in moving cut motions on the Demands for Grants which are guillotined.

The practice followed so far in this regard in the House had been that the cut motions in respect of the Demands for Grants which were to be guillotined were not circulated and thus not allowed to be moved.  However the right of a member to move a cut motion flows from the power vested in the Lok Sabha under Article 113 of the Constitution to assent to any demand, subject to a reduction of the amount specified in that demand.  Evidently, this Article of the Constitution or any of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha does not make any distinction between the demands which are discussed in the House and those which are guillotined.  Therefore, while considering the issue of cut motions in respect of the Demands for Grants which are guillotined, after carefully examining the rules as well as the practices that have been followed all these years and the constitutional provision which vests the power in the House of the People to reduce any demand submitted to it,     I was of the opinion that the right to move cut motions is certainly a crucial right of the members of the Lok Sabha which cannot be denied.  I, therefore, allowed the cut motions to be moved on the Demands for Grants which were to be guillotined for the first time in the Lok Sabha.

Another prominent initiative taken in the recent past relates to Parliamentary Questions. As you are aware, the Question Hour has a special significance in the proceedings of the House, particularly in ventilating the grievances of the public in the matters concerning the administration and working of the Ministries and their allied Departments and organizations. To further streamline this parliamentary device, an exercise was undertaken to amend certain Rules and Directions in the light of experience gained in the past. The key decisions which we have recently taken to increase the efficacy of the Question Hour and which will be operative from the Fifth Session of the Fifteenth Lok Sabha are:

First, the hitherto minimum and maximum period of 10 and 21 days, respectively, for giving notices by the Hon’ble members for Questions has been done away with and a uniform period of fifteen days has been prescribed for giving such notices.

Secondly, the Speaker has now been vested with powers to direct answer to a Starred Question of a member who is absent in the House when his or her name is called. 

Thirdly, a Minister is now required to make a Statement in the House correcting the reply given by him or her earlier, irrespective of the fact whether the reply given pertained to a Starred or Unstarred or a Short Notice Question.

Fourthly, the number of notices of Questions which a member is entitled to give, both for oral and written answers in a day, has been limited to ten.

I am sure these procedural changes will meet the long felt need to regulate the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha more effectively. 

To provide an in-depth understanding of critical issues of national importance, all the five reconstituted Parliamentary Forums — one each on Water Conservation and Management; Youth; Children; Population and Public Health; and Global Warming and Climate Change have invited experts in related fields to give their presentations for subject-specific enlightenment of the Hon’ble members of Parliament which include contemporary topics such as ‘Right to Education’, ‘The Road Map for Reduction in Carbon Emission Intensity’ and ‘Youth Policies in Democratic Process’. The Parliamentary Forum on Global Warming and Climate Change has also interacted with the visiting Delegation of the European Parliament on issues of mutual interest. I am sharing these achievements with you to enable all of us to learn from each others’ experiences with an aim to further strengthen our democratic institutions.

Coming to the topics of deliberation at this Conference, we will be discussing two subjects of enormous parliamentary importance, namely, ‘Growing Tendency to Disrupt the Question Hour and the Need to Check it’, and ‘Significance of the Committee System in Parliament and the Need to Strengthen it’.

Asking questions is an inherent right of members in our parliamentary democracy and 20 starred questions are listed on each working day of the Lok Sabha.  The allotted time leaves less than three minutes for each question to be answered taking into consideration the supplementary questions.  It is, therefore, not possible to take up all the listed starred questions on any given day.  

I am fully aware that the Hon'ble Members have to voice the grievances, hopes and aspirations of more than 15-20 lacs people they are representing. They act under constant pressure. Hence, in their effort to project the concerns of their constituencies and other national issues they sometimes insist on postponing the scheduled business of the House which may disrupt the proceedings.  Nevertheless, I would like to emphasize that the interests of the people can be better served by ensuring that the House runs in order. Question Hour being the very first hour, sets the mood of the House for the day.  Its disruption adversely affects the proceedings of the entire day. In addition, whenever, the Question Hour is disrupted, people are deprived of a great deal of information on various aspects of the functioning of the government. It blocks the flow of information from the Executive to the Legislature and from the legislature to the people, thus, causing a serious blow to the principle of accountability which is so fundamental to Parliamentary democracy.  Besides, disruption of the Question Hour, at best, can only momentarily draw attention to a particular issue. More lasting solutions can be found only when the issue is properly debated on the floor of the House for which many devises like the Calling Attention Motion, Short Duration Discussion, Half-an-Hour Discussion etc. are available.  I believe State Legislatures are also faced by similar problems.  As Presiding Officers we need to develop alternate mechanisms that give hon’ble members adequate opportunities to highlight issues that are agitating them.

The Question Hour has sanctity of its own as the primary device available to Hon’ble Members to demand the Government to explain its acts of omission and commission and also its stand on a variety of subjects of public importance.  It is, therefore, the duty of every Presiding Officer to maintain the inviolability of the Question Hour. I have already referred to some of the measures we have taken in the Lok Sabha to streamline the Question Hour and we are constantly striving to improve the system.  I hope this Conference will discuss the relevant issues in their proper perspectives for evolving an effective solution to prevent frequent disruption of the Question Hour.

‘Significance of the Committee System in Parliament and the Need to strengthen it’ is the next subject chosen for discussion during this Conference.  With the increasing business and expanding functions of modern Legislatures, there has been a corresponding increase in the use of Committees in almost all our Legislative Bodies. In fact, the committee system has been widely acclaimed as the best suited device for detailed scrutiny of the administrative actions for enforcing executive accountability to the Legislature and, through it, to the people at large.

The Committees of the Legislature, particularly those specifically constituted to scrutinize Executive actions, are vested with adequate powers to conduct detailed examination of the working and the plans and programmes of various Ministries and Departments. These Committees remain instrumental in inspiring respect for parliamentary control among all sections of the administration to ensure that misuse of public money and administrative powers are prevented. They no doubt operate as sentinels of accountability and help promote good governance and transparency. But the effectiveness of the committee system depends on a variety of factors such as the composition and the organization of the Committees, the individual attributes and expertise of their members, research support provided to the Committees in their examination of the subjects and the seriousness on the part of the Ministries and Departments concerned in implementing the recommendations of the Committees.

We have in our Parliament three Financial Committees and 24 Departmentally Related Standing Committees, apart from several other Committees.  Needless to say, the Financial Committees and the Departmentally Related Standing Committees are pivotal in ensuring executive accountability. Almost all the Legislatures in India have evolved their own system of Committees for detailed scrutiny of the administrative actions.  In this context, I would like to refer to the Conferences of analogous Committees of Parliament and of our State Legislatures which are held from time to time for sharing of experiences and learning from best practices.  This Conference of Presiding Officers provides us yet another opportunity to identify and discuss measures for increasing the efficiency of the working of committee system that we have in place in our Parliament and the State Legislatures. 

As Presiding Officers, we are at the helm of affairs of our respective Houses and are entrusted with the onerous task of their proficient management.  We are vested with considerable inherent as well as statutory powers in our interface with the members of the Houses we preside over. Our responsibilities as Presiding Officers of modern Legislatures have increased and diversified manifold.  This Conference of Presiding Officers is a platform where we can learn from one another’s experiences in managing the affairs of our Houses more professionally.  I earnestly hope that this Conference will go a long way in further streamlining the working of our parliamentary institutions.

Before I conclude, I would like to convey our deep appreciation to our hosts Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri Omar Abdullah; Hon’ble Speaker  Shri Mohammad Akbar Lone; Hon’ble Acting Chairman Sardar Arvinder Singh Micky;  Hon’ble Deputy Speaker Shri Mohd. Sartaj Madni; Secretary and the Staff of the Jammu & Kashmir Legislature Secretariat and all those associated with the meticulous planning and organization of this Conference for the warm and generous hospitality extended to us.  It has added an altogether new dimension to the age old tradition of Atithi Devo Bhav.

With these words, I have great pleasure in inaugurating the 75^th Conference of Presiding Officers and Secretaries of Legislative Bodies in India. I am sure the deliberations of this Conference will prove significant in fortifying our democratic institutions.

Thank you.