Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu has suggested that political parties should have a code of conduct for their MPs and MLAs to help monitor their behaviour in Parliament and Assemblies.

Naidu, who is also the Rajya Sabha chairman, suggested that political parties could include such a code in their election manifestos that would help enable voters to make their judgement before voting.

The code of conduct, he said, should include stipulations that members would not enter the well of the House, nor resort to sloganeering and disruptions or any other unruly behaviour such as tearing of papers and throwing them in the House.

Noting that political parties were only rivals and not enemies, he was of the opinion that the ruling and opposition parties should interact more frequently to ensure smooth conduct of both Parliament and legislatures.

The Rajya Sabha chairman said that he has always been emphasising the need for members to discuss, debate and decide and not resort to disruptions and obstructions in Parliament and state legislatures as people were becoming restless over such behaviour.

Naidu also expressed concern over the tendency of the opposition parties to boycott the legislature in some states, while in certain other instances the opposition was sent out. In some states, the Assembly was meeting for very few days, while there was continuous disruption in some others.

A code of conduct for high constitutional functionaries and representatives of the people have been discussed for long.

Rajya Sabha Ethics Committee

Ethics Committee in Rajya Sabha, the first such committee by any legislature in India, was constituted by the Rajya Sabha chairman on March 4, 1997 to oversee the moral and ethical conduct of the members and to examine the cases referred to it with reference to ethical and other misconduct of members.

The then vice-president and Rajya Sabha chairman, K.R. Narayanan, inaugurated the committee on May 30, 1997.

Setting up of an institution like Ethics Committee was, in fact, a significant event in the history of Indian parliamentary democracy. Such committees are functioning only in a few countries of the world.

In its first report, the Ethics Committee expressed its concern about the decline in standard of behaviour in public life and emphasised the need for controlling it. It urged political parties to regulate the conduct of their members.

It also came to the conclusion that a code of conduct be prepared for the members of Rajya Sabha. It recommended the framework of a code of conduct which prescribes certain dos and don’ts for the Rajya Sabha members.

In its second report, the committee considered the procedure for making a complaint to the committee, taking notice suo moto as well as, the mechanism for investigation of a complaint and the question of providing penalties for a proven unethical conduct or for violating the code.

The Rajya Sabha discussed and adopted the first and the second reports on December 15, 1999.

According to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Rajya Sabha, if it has been found that a member has indulged in unethical behaviour or that there is other misconduct or that the member has contravened the code / rules, the committee may recommend the imposition of one or more of the following sanctions: 1. Censure, 2. Reprimand, 3. suspension from the House for a specific period and 4. any other sanction determined by the committee to be appropriate.

Lok Sabha Ethics Committee

On May 16, 2000, the then Lok Sabha Speaker, G.M.C. Balayogi, constituted a 15-member Committee on Ethics under the chairmanship of Chandra Shekhar to oversee the moral and ethical conduct of the members and to examine the cases referred to the committee.

The committee, at the sitting held on August 23, 2001, arrived at their findings and conclusions. Chandra Shekhar presented the First Report of the Committee to Balayogi on August 31, 2001.

The issue has been raised in every Lok Sabha since then, but has not been taken to its conclusion.

In 2014, the then Lok Sabha Speaker, Sumitra Mahajan, appointed BJP veteran L.K. Advani as the chairman of the Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha. He was nominated again as the committee chief in 2018.

How does it work globally?

In 1996, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 51/59 Action Against Corruption, outlining “a model international conduct for public officials”, including members of parliament, as a tool to guide efforts against corruption. In 1997, the Council of Europe encourages in its Resolution 97 (4) On the Twenty Guiding Principles for the Fight against Corruption “the adoption, by elected representatives, of codes of conduct”, inviting national authorities to apply this principle in their domestic legislation and practice.

Although most of these documents, aside from the Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention against Corruption do not have a legally binding nature, the UN Convention against Corruption adopted in 2005 stand out as an important set of legally binding obligations for signatories, providing a benchmark for anti-corruption initiatives by setting out comprehensive standards, measures and rules for countries to implement.

In Canada, the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner conducts investigations and makes use of appropriate sanctions in order to ensure full compliance with the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons and the Conflict of Interest Act.

Germany has had a Code of Conduct for members of the Bundestag since 1972. The US has a Code since 1968.