Context: The parliamentary procedure of guillotine may come in use in the recent session of the parliament.
About the parliamentary procedure of guillotine:-
- In legislative parlance, “guillotine” means to bunch together and fast-track the passage of financial business.
- Application: the procedure is used to save time when all the clauses of a measure cannot be discussed in the allotted time during the Budget session.
- After the Budget is presented, Parliament goes into recess for about three weeks, during which time the House Standing Committees examine Demands for Grants for various Ministries and prepare reports.
- After Parliament reassembles, the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) draws up a schedule for discussions on the Demands for Grants.
- Given the limitation of time, the House cannot take up the expenditure demands of all Ministries.
- Therefore, the BAC identifies some important Ministries for discussion.
- Members discuss the policies and working of Ministries.
- Once the allotted time to discuss the clauses of the Bill is over, the Speaker of the House rolls out guillotine closure.
- The undiscussed clauses of a bill or resolution are placed for vote alongside the discussed portions.
Implications:-
- Once the Speaker of the House applies the guillotine, all the outstanding demands for grants, whether discussed or not, are put to vote at once.
