Disruption is contempt of House: M Venkaiah Naidu

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 18

In a first by any Presiding Officer of legislatures in the country and in the context of rising disruptions, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu today said disruptions of proceedings amounted to contempt of the House and the MPs couldn’t claim such conduct as their privilege.

Delivering the second Ram Jethmalani Memorial Lecture on “Is disruption of parliamentary proceedings an MP’s privilege and/or a facet of parliamentary democracy?” today, Naidu spoke at length on the intentions of various rules and other provisions requiring high standards of behaviour in the House and argued that disruptions negated the objective of effective performance by members and of the House.

He described late Ram Jethmalani as a rebel who brought innovation to legal inquiry.

Naidu noted that the 14-point Framework of Code of Conduct recommended by the Ethics Committee of Rajya Sabha and adopted by the House requires that members must not do anything that brings disrepute to the Parliament and affects its credibility.