DUTIES OF MEMBERS vis-a-vis THE CHAIRMAN

As Presiding Officer, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, is, the guardian of the prestige, dignity and authority of the House. His authority' is supreme in the House. His impartial and judicious judgement enhances the prestige of his office. He Js the principal spokesman of the House and represents its collective voice and is-its sole representative to the outside world. As Chairman, his main duties are to preside over the sittings of the Rajya Sabha and to regulate the, proceedings of the House in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Rajya Sabha. The House commences its sitting when the Chairman, the Deputy Chairman or any, other. Member authorised to preside over the sitting under the Constitution or the Rules, is in the Chair. Utmost respect and attention is required to be paid to the. Chairman by Members of, the House. Whenever he rises to speak he is to be heard in silence and any, Member who is then speaking or offering to speak is required to resume his seat. No one is expected to leave the Chamber when the Chairman is addressing the House.

for conducting the proceedings of the House and the Committees threreof. It is the night of the Chairman to interpret the Constitution and the Rules so far as the matters relating to the business of the House and the Committees are concerned. A Member should not. therefore, enter into Various powers are conferred on the Chairman under the Rules of Procedure of the Rajya Sabha any argument with the Chairman over such interpretation. His rulings constitute precedents by which the subsequent Chairmen, Members and Officers are guided. These rulings should not be questioned and a Member doing so, commits contempt of the House. In giving his rulings or decisions, the Chairman is not bound to give any reason therefor Members, therefore, should not criticise, directly or indirectly, obliquely or incidentally, inside or outside the House, any ruling given, opinion expressed or statement made or action taken by the Chairman. If a Member desires to make a submission to the Chairman on the floor of the House regarding a ruling, the Chairman may permit the Member to do so, after satisfying himself that he is not' unduly interfering with the proceedings of the House. The Member making such a submission should not criticise the decision but only submit a request to the Chair to reconsider the ruling in the light. of the facts submitted by him. Members should also not raise matters which, under the. rules and conventions, cannot be raised, except with the prior permission of the Chairman.

Parliament basically is a deliberative body where issues are thrashed out and divergent views are expressed and reconciled as far as possible possible by debate, discussion and persuasion. For the proper functioning of Parliament and for maintaining the highest traditions of Parliamentary life, it is essential, that Members of Parliament observe a 'certain code of conduct; follow certain norms of behaviour and practise the parliamentary game according to certain rules, customs and conventions. Whether inside the House or outside, Members' conduct should be such, that it enhances the dignity and the prestige of Parliament. Observance of Parliamentary etiquette, customs and conventions, which have been evolved "over the years, traditions, can contribute to a great extent, to not only the furtherance of dignity of, Parliament but also to its smooth "and efficient 'functioning. It is well-established that a Member should:

(a) bow to the Chair while entering or leaving the House and also when taking or leaving his seat;

(b) not pass between the Chair and the member who is speaking;

Maintenance of order in the House is a fundamental duty of the Chair. The Chairman derives his disciplinary powers from the Rules. His decision in matters of discipline should not be challenged. There are times when tempers run high in the House and situation becomes uncontrollable. But the Presiding. Officer, with cool head and calm mind, with fact and understanding, tries to deft the situation. The Members, is human beings, may be carried away by the circumstances, but may have, soon to cooperate with the Chairman. A Member rebuked for unruly behaviour should submit with good grace. If he persists, the Chairman can order him out of the Chamber or name him in which case, the House is bound to take notice of the misdemeanour, and vote upon motion to suspend the offender from the service of the House for a period not exceeding the remainder of the session. It is a duty of the Members not to, create a situation in which the Chair is constrained to invoke this power.

Every Member should bear in mind that generally there are more participants than the Chairman, can. accommodate, in the time available to him. Though on rare occasions, Government Whips have been known to scurry around the Lobbies imploring backbenchers to come into the Chamber and sustain a debate which seemed in danger of collapsing. The practice which the Chairman invariably follows is to call Members from the Government and Opposition sides in turn.

He is also careful to protect the interest of minorities, or of those Members who have some contribution to make on the subject under discussion. No grievance should, therefore, be made that a Member was not called to speak or was called to speak later than desired.

It should also be appreciated that perhaps the most anxious time of the day for the Chairman is the Question Hour. On the Order Paper, there are 20 starred Questions, many of them may be designed to provide an opening for a supplementary question. The. original questioner can rely on being. called for his supplementary question, and then it is entirely up to the Chairman to judge how long the interchange of question and answer should continue over a particular Question. If the topic controversial, the verbal duel could go on indefinitely, but the Chairman has power to end it at any moment by calling the next question on the List. By doing so, he does not save the Government from continued attack, but he has to protect the interest of Members whose questions might not otherwise be reached during the time fixed for asking and answering questions. Much of the misunderstanding which arises when the Chair does not call a Member to ask a supplementary on a question, which has sufficiently been clarified or when he passes on to the next questions, will be removed, if the Chair's predicament is understood and appreciated. The Chair is always anxious to cover more questions for being asked and answered on the floor of the House. At the same time, he is anxious to see that, as far as possible, those who intend to ask supplementaries are accommodated. He has a difficult task to strike a balance between more questions and less supplementaries and more supplernentaries and less questions. Members have, therefore, to cooperate with the Chair in this task by asking precise and relevant supplementaries and that too only when, they must and curtailing the preface or long introductory statements before posing supplernentaries.

One of the most vexatious parliamentary practices which confronts a Presiding Officer is a 'Point of Order' raised during the debate. The practice raises real problems for the Chair and causes exasperation amongst Members who are prepared to abide by the rules and do not raise matter of argument or debate under the cloak of Points of Order. The problem for the Presiding Officer lies in the fact that, until he hears a substantial part of a Member's submission, he (the Chair) is not in a position to rule whether or not it is a Point of Order.

The Chair may, of course, rebuke a Member who flagrantly and frequently raises a 'bogus' or unwarranted point or order. But, at the same time, the Chair cannot, in general, refuse to hear Points of Order. A Member wishing to raise a Point of Order has the right to he heard before a decision can be given by the Chair. On his formulating a Point of Order, the chair decides whether the point raised is a Point of Order and, if so, gives his decision thereon, which is final. As already stated, Members cannot protest against the Chair's ruling. Rulings given by the Chair cannot be discussed in the House, nor can any clarification or explanation be sought thereon. Members should, therefore, raise Points of Order only when there are real points of order. They should not interrupt a speech of another Member in the guise of 'point of information' or 'point of explanation. For these, they should take recourse to other provisions under the rules.

The saying that 'all Speakers become good Speakers' applies with full force in respect of the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. If this is on the whole true, it is because the House generally makes a good choice in the first instance and also because, with rare exceptions, it goes to a great length to uphold the authority and dignity of' the Chair which is primarily the duty of every Member of the House. While preserving the dignity of the Chair, the Members ultimately preserve the dignity of the whole House and also individually their own.