15.4. Suggested Parliamentary Reforms
1. Nodal Standing Committee on Economy: The National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC) has recommended establishing a Nodal Standing Committee on Economy to oversee major issues of fiscal, monetary, financial, and industrial and trade policies in an integrated manner. It suggested that internal groups of the Committee would evaluate performance against physical targets and draft reports, which would together be presented as an annual report to Parliament, by the Committee.
2. Building a better image of Parliament: It is necessary to establish a new rapport between the people and the Parliament. Parliament must have access to public opinion and public must have access to Parliament. If corruption is suspected inside the portals of legislatures, the press and the public must be free to question it and expose it without being threatened under the law of parliamentary privileges.
3. Improving the quality of Members: It is the primary duty of every Parliamentarian to maintain and project a good image of Parliament by his conduct both inside and outside the House. Every member must be imbued with a sense of purpose and responsibility. Members of important parliamentary committees need to lay down a strict code of conduct for themselves.
4. Reducing expenditure: There is a need to drastically slash parliamentary spending under various heads. Strictest self-control is necessary because parliamentary budget, by convention, is not questioned or debated. A strict limit needs to be placed on the number of Ministers and equivalent posts both at the Union level and in the States.
5. Improving information supply: Members of the Parliament must remain up to date with the latest information in regard to developments in all areas of parliamentary concern. The Parliament must build its own independent national information reservoir with a network of feeding and retrieval points. Some of the modern tools and techniques like briefing by experts, audio-visual aids, practice oriented studies etc can be used.
6. Planning Legislation and improving its Quality: Legislation in the Indian Parliament has often been criticized for hasty drafting and for being rushed through Parliament in an ad hoc and haphazard manner. There is need for a dynamic approach to legislative engineering and systematic programming of laws. This can be done by streamlining the functions of the Parliamentary and Legal Affairs Committee, making greater use of the Law Commission etc.
7. Setting up a Constitution Committee: While executive power of the Union is co-extensive with its legislative power, the constituent power under the Constitution belongs exclusively to Parliament. The responsibility of Parliament therefore becomes much greater in the case of Constitution (Amendment) Bills. The proposed involvement of Parliament and scrutiny can be achieved through a novel device in form of a Constitution Committee of Parliament.
8. Departmental Committees and Improving Accountability: These Committees strengthen the Government by providing valuable insights into its own working, providing sharper and more effective surveillance tools and restoring the balance between Parliament’s legislative and deliberative functions and its role as a representational body. They also save valuable parliamentary time to the advantage both of Parliament and the Government. However, if the Subject/Ministry based Standing Committees have to have a real meaning and fulfill the purposes for which they were conceived and not to become merely part of a spoils system and distribution of perks and benefits.
9. Codifying Parliamentary Privileges: These privileges should not be allowed to be used in such a manner as to nullify themselves and become rights against the people. The specific parliamentary privileges which may be deemed to be in conformity with contemporary thinking and absolutely necessary for the free and independent functioning of the institution of Parliament should be clearly defined, delimited and simplified.