What is the issue?
- Somnath Chatterjee who formerly held the office of Speaker in 14th Lok Sabha passed away recently.
- The contributions made by him to the parliamentary practices in Indian democracy are worth remembering.
What are the noteworthy contributions?
- Telecast - His tenure was replete with people-centric parliamentary innovations.
- He wanted to extend the visitors’ gallery of Parliament to every household in the country.
- It began with the live telecast of the “zero hour” proceedings.
- He personally monitored the evolution of the Lok Sabha television channel.
- It is the world’s first 24×7 TV channel to be owned and operated by Parliament.
- Its purpose is to inform people of the goings-on in Parliament on a real time basis.
- Knowledge - He opened up the rich Parliament Library to researchers and media persons.
- A new museum and children’s corner in the Parliament Library building was created.
- A parliamentary fora on diverse subjects was set up and a lecture series was introduced.
- This was to equip the members with knowledge on emerging trends.
- The institution of parliamentary research fellowships, Hiren Mukherjee Memorial Lecture were some of the many initiatives under his leadership.
- Legislature - The dearest to Chatterjee was the principle of accountability.
- Also, the constitutionally-guaranteed supremacy of the legislature in its own sphere.
- His noteworthy bold steps in parliament in this regard include -
- enhancing the number of Standing Committees for improved oversight
- directions for the compulsory presentation of action taken on Standing Committee reports
- admission of probably the highest number of calling attention notices
- his insistence on short discussions and adjournment motions
- Parliamentary diplomacy - This is another innovation that took shape under his leadership.
- Visits by Indian parliamentary delegations abroad were encouraged.
- This was done in alignment with the country's foreign policy orientation and significantly benefitted India.
- E.g. India's election to the position of Chairman of the Executive Committee of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
- Judiciary - He held the judiciary in the highest esteem.
- He did question the constitutional validity of judicial orders regarding the conduct of the floor test in the hung Jharkhand legislature.
- However, his advice to the people who mattered was to honour the order of the Supreme Court.
- He emphasised the dignity of all institutions, including the judiciary.
- Decisions - He has disposed of, a record number of Tenth Schedule (anti-defection) matters in the shortest possible time, in a fair and judicious manner.
- Not one of his many quasi-judicial pronouncements was ever challenged.
- The orders passed by him have set benchmarks in the adjudication of anti-defection matters.
- The events and achievements, and the debates generated during his period shall guide leaders in all institutions.
- It is undeniable that Somnath Chatterjee has been one of India’s brightest and the most outstanding parliamentarians.
Source: Indian Express
