Cutting across party lines, whips from across the country have unanimously recommended that Members of Parliament and Members of State Legislatures should not be paid their daily allowances if the House is adjourned without transacting any business owing to trouble crated by the members.
This was one of the 15 recommendations put forward at the two-day 13th All India Whips Conference, which concluded in Hyderabad on Saturday.
The meet favoured invoking the principle of 'no-work, no-allowance' and linking the payment of daily allowance to attendance and the conduct of business in the House, in view of the constant adjournments and lack of attendance of members in Parliament/state legislatures.
"It has been observed that disturbances lead to adjournments without transacting any business and hence rules should be amended not to pay the daily allowance on such occasions," the whips observed.
They suggested that the central government and all the states should make amendments to the relevant acts quickly to bring into force the no-work, no-allowance rule.
"This amendment, when it comes into force, will be binding on all legislators and parliamentarians. As per recommendation, no daily allowance would be paid to elected representatives if the House is adjourned for the day without transacting business," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told media persons.
"Let us not talk of penalty. Let us talk of functioning," Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee quipped.
Whips, representing 22 political parties, including 11 from Parliament, who participated in the conference, discussed at length the inability of Parliament and state legislatures to discuss important issues or transact the listed business due to frequent disruptions by members.
They also expressed concern over decreasing number of sittings of legislatures and Parliament and noted that some Assemblies did not sit even for two weeks a year.
They adopted a resolution recommending an amendment to Articles 85 and 174 of the Constitution to provide mandatory minimum number of sittings of Parliament -- between 100 and 130 days.
In the case of state legislatures, the whips recommended that the sittings should be between 70 to 90 days for bigger states and 50 for smaller ones.
The other recommendations include direct (live) telecast of the proceedings of all State Legislatures (to make the legislators more accountable to the people), setting up of an independent department of parliamentary/legislative affairs and consultative committees in states/Union territories and creation of assurances committees in all state legislatures to monitor the implementation of the assurances given by the government on the floor of the House.
The conference urged the whips to ensure good attendance. All parties should make efforts to see that the proceedings are conducted in a dignified manner, the whips observed.
Azad said the recommendations would be sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, chief ministers and presiding officers of state legislatures.
