Legislator’s Ethical Framework
1. The Committee on Ethics of the Rajya Sabha
The Committee on Ethics is established under Chapter XXIV of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States to oversee the moral and ethical conduct of Members. On March 4, 1997, the Chairman of the House established the Ethics Committee for the first time.
• The Committee had addressed issues such as public values, political criminalization, and electoral reforms in its First Report, among other things. It proposed a framework for a Code of Conduct for Rajya Sabha Members.
• The existing framework of the Code of Conduct for Members of the Rajya Sabha is as follows:
• Members of the Rajya Sabha should recognise their responsibility to uphold the public's trust in them and work diligently to fulfil their mandate for the people's benefit.
• They must hold the Constitution, the Law, Parliamentary Institutions, and, most importantly, the general public in high regard.
They should work tirelessly to make the ideals enshrined in the Constitution's Preamble a reality. The principles they should follow in their dealings are as follows:
1. Members must not do anything that brings the Parliament into disrepute or jeopardises their credibility.
2. Members must use their position as Members of Parliament to promote the public's overall well-being.
3. If Members encounter a conflict between their personal interests and the public trust they hold, they should resolve the conflict in such a way that their personal interests are subordinated to the duties of their public office.
4. Members should never expect or accept any fee, remuneration, or benefit in exchange for voting yes or no on the House floor, introducing a Bill, moving a resolution, putting a question or abstaining from asking a question, or participating in the House or a Parliamentary Committee's deliberations.
5. Members should not accept gifts that could jeopardise their ability to perform their official duties honestly and impartially. They may accept incidental gifts or inexpensive mementos, as well as traditional hospitality.
6. Members who have access to confidential information as a result of their positions in Parliament or on Parliamentary Committees should not use that information to advance their own personal interests.
7. Members should not take advantage of the facilities and amenities provided to them.
8. Members should treat all religions with respect and work to promote secular values.
9. Members should remember the fundamental responsibilities outlined in Part IV A of the Constitution.
10. Members are expected to uphold high moral, dignity, decency, and value standards in public life.
2. The Committee on Ethics of the Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha has an Ethics Committee that oversees the moral and ethical behaviour of its members. In its First Report, the Committee on Ethics (Thirteenth Lok Sabha) stated that the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha, the Speaker's directions, and the conventions that have evolved over time on the basis of recommendations made by various Parliamentary Committees have adequately provided for members' ethical behaviour.
In addition to the existing rules, the Committee recommended that members follow the following general ethical principles:
1. Members must use their positions to promote the public's overall health.
2. If their personal interests and the public interest conflict, they must resolve the conflict so that personal interests are subordinate to the duty of public office.
3. Conflicts between private financial/family interests should be resolved in a way that does not jeopardise the public interest.
4. Members of the public sector should use public resources in ways that benefit the public good.
5. Members must remember the fundamental responsibilities outlined in Part IV of the Constitution.
6. In public life, members should uphold high moral, dignity, decency, and value standards.
2nd ARC: Enforcement of Ethical Norms in Legislatures
While the proclamation of ethical values and codes of conduct places moral pressure on government officials, they must be accompanied by an effective monitoring and enforcement regime. Unfortunately, this has been lacking in the Indian parliament on numerous occasions.
The following are the Commissioner's primary responsibilities:
1. Providing confidential advice on the interpretation of the Code of Conduct and Guide to the Rules relating to Members' Conduct to individual Members and the Select Committee on Standards and Privileges.
2. Providing Members with guidance and training on matters of conduct, propriety, and ethics.
3. Observing how the Code of Conduct and Guide to the Rules are being implemented and, if necessary, recommending changes to the Committee.
4. Receiving and investigating complaints about Members allegedly violating the Code of Conduct and Guide to the Rules, as well as reporting his findings to the Committee.
The establishment of the Office of Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has aided the House by increasing transparency in ethical standards matters. It has also aided Members by providing timely advice on issues concerning the Code of Conduct.
• Both Houses of Parliament, according to the 2nd ARC, should consider creating a similar office. This office is expected to report to the Speaker of the House. It could also aid the Ethics Committee in carrying out its duties, provide advice to Members as needed, and keep records.
3. Code of Conduct for Ministers
The Government of India (Ministry of Home Affairs) has established a Code of Conduct that applies to both Union and State Ministers. The following are some key provisions:
• Ministers must disclose all of their assets, liabilities, and business interests, as well as those of their family members.
• Maintaining no ties to any businesses he/she was involved in prior to becoming a minister.
• A Minister should only accept valuable gifts (over Rs. 5000/-) from close relatives, and he or his family should not accept any gifts from anyone with whom he may have official dealings.
• A Minister's spouse and dependents should not be allowed to work for a foreign government, in India or abroad, or for a foreign organisation (including commercial concerns) without the Prime Minister's prior approval.
2nd ARC's perspective: The Code of Conduct, according to 2nd ARC, is a starting point for ensuring good ministerial conduct. However, it is not comprehensive in scope and more akin to a list of prohibitions than a Code of Ethics. The following are some suggestions:
a. In addition to the existing Code of Conduct for Ministers, a Code of Ethics should be established to provide guidance on how Ministers should conduct themselves in the performance of their duties in accordance with the highest standards of constitutional and ethical conduct.
b. Dedicated units should be established in the Prime Minister's and Chief Ministers' offices to monitor adherence to the Codes of Ethics and Conduct. The unit should also be able to receive public complaints about Code of Conduct violations.
c. The Prime Minister or Chief Minister should be responsible for ensuring that Ministers follow the Code of Ethics and Conduct. This would be true even in coalition governments where ministers may come from different political parties.
d. The appropriate legislature should receive an annual report on the implementation of these Codes. This report should detail any violations that have occurred, as well as the actions taken in response to them.
e. The Minister-civil servant relationship should be addressed in broad terms in the Code of Ethics, while the details should be addressed in the Code of Conduct.
f. The Code of Ethics, Code of Conduct, and annual report should all be made available to the public.
Code of Ethics for Regulators
Professionals and other trades have their own codes of conduct. Such codes have existed in society since the dawn of time.
Hammurabi's code, for example, stated: If a builder constructs a house well, the owner will pay two shekels for each of the house's surfaces. If a builder builds a house for someone and does not properly construct it, and the house that he built collapses and kills the owner, the builder will be executed. The Code of Hammurabi, which dates from around 1754 BC, is a well-preserved Babylonian law code from ancient Mesopotamia.
• Internal or self-regulatory mechanisms are typically used to prescribe and enforce Codes of Conduct for various segments of society. A profession's Self-Regulatory Authority is a group of its members who are responsible for the profession's growth and development in the context of its social and political responsibilities.
The following are some of the functions that a Self-Regulatory Body might have:
1. Professional education issues, such as curriculum development, teaching standards, institutional infrastructure, degree recognition, and so on.
2. Issues pertaining to practitioner licencing and ethical conduct. Guilds are the most ancient example of such a system. A guild was a group of people who shared a common trade or interest who banded together to protect each other's interests and uphold standards. Guilds have largely vanished as a result of the rise of competition and industrialization.
3. However, in the last century, a large number of professions have emerged, particularly in what is now known as the services sector. These professions first organised themselves into various types of associations in order to pursue common goals and develop acceptable behavioural norms and enforcement mechanisms. In some cases, statutory support has been given to such mechanisms.
Trust between Professionals and Citizens
• A professional and his client have a deep trusting relationship in general. Because a professional practitioner has access to a person's most personal details, he is obligated to act in accordance with the principles of beneficence and justice in order to justify this trust.
• Professionals must adhere to high standards of practise and demonstrate a commitment to professional ethics. The trust also implies that they keep their knowledge, skill, and ability up to date on a regular basis in order to provide competent service.
• In the early years of their existence, the Regulatory Authorities worked with zeal and interest, having been formed with enthusiasm and vision. Though self-interest may have been on their agenda in some form or another, the level of professional competence and conduct was adequate in the early years of Independence, and the medical profession, engineers, lawyers, and others, on the whole, conducted themselves with great responsibility and professionalism. However, in recent years, the trend toward self-interest has become more pronounced in almost all professions.
• Regulatory Bodies have been accused of becoming "self-promoting lobbies running to the rescue of delinquents, starting agitations against any action taken, organising strikes, and hardly taking steps to uphold standards or action against professional misconduct."
Two primary factors can be blamed for the decline in professional ethics:
1. The overall educational system's tone; and
2. The environment's impact.
While carefully designed training programmes can help people change their behaviour, changing entrenched mind-sets is more difficult. It will take a concerted effort from all parties involved. In our current academic content, ethics occupies a very small space. It is critical that it be given a prominent place in the curricula of professional institutions across the country.
• The current regulatory structure would be free to devote time and energy to issues of entry and maintenance of professional ethics and standards once the education part of a profession is hived off to different machinery. Workshops, seminars, and interactive sessions held on a regular basis would be extremely beneficial in this context.
Some recommendations of second ARC:
Professional education should be moved out of the hands of existing regulatory bodies and into the hands of newly created agencies, one for each of the higher/professional education streams. Councils should be established by law, and their role should be to establish norms, standards, and parameters on issues relating to the growth and development of their respective streams, such as
a. Establishing new institutions
b. Creating/updating curricula
c. Faculty development
d. Conducting research and development, and
e. Aspects of the stream that are important.
Through mechanisms such as faculty exchange, stronger ties between public and private educational institutions should be established.