Privileges of State Legislature

What is meant by Privileges of State Legislature?

• Privileges of a state legislature are a sum of special rights, immunities and exemptions enjoyed by the Houses of state legislature, their committees and their members.
• They are necessary in order to secure the independence and effectiveness of their actions.
• The Constitution has also extended the privileges of the state legislature to those persons who are entitled to speak and take part in the proceedings of a House of the state legislature or any of its committees. These include advocate-general of the state and state ministers.
• The privileges of the state legislature do not extend to the governor who is also an integral part of the state legislature.

Types of Privileges of State Legislature

• They can be classified into two broad categories –
  1. Collective Privileges – those that are enjoyed by each House of the state legislature collectively,
  2. Individual Privileges – Those that are enjoyed by the members individually.

Collective Privileges

• It has the right to publish its reports, debates and proceedings and also the right to prohibit others from publishing the same.
• It can exclude strangers from its proceedings and hold secret sittings to discuss some important matters.
• It can make rules to regulate its own procedure and the conduct of its business and to adjudicate upon such matters.
• It can punish members as well as outsiders for breach of its privileges or its contempt by reprimand, admonition or imprisonment.
• It has the right to receive immediate information of the arrest, detention, conviction, imprisonment and release of a member.
• The courts are prohibited to inquire into the proceedings of a House or its Committees.
• No person (either a member or outsider) can be arrested, and no legal process (civil or criminal) can be served within the precincts of the House without the permission of the presiding officer.
• It can institute inquiries and order the attendance of witnesses and send for relevant papers and records.

Individual Privileges

• They cannot be arrested (not applicable in criminal cases) during the session of the state legislature and 40 days before the beginning and 40 days after the end of such session.
• They have freedom of speech in the state legislature. No member is liable to any proceedings in any court for anything said or any vote given by him in the state legislature or its committees.
• They are exempted from jury service. They can refuse to give evidence and appear as a witness in a case pending in a court when the state legislature is in session.

 

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