Q:- How is the legislative council of the state different from Rajya Sabha? Also, write about the relevance of the legislative councils in states.
India follows a bicameral system of legislation both at the centre and state levels.
Bicameralism is the practice of having two Houses of Parliament. At the State level, the
equivalent of the Lok Sabha is the Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly), and that of the
Rajya Sabha is the Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council). Both the Legislative Council and
the Rajya Sabha are the upper houses and act as checks and balances on the lower
houses. Although both are upper houses, there are some significant differences among the
two.
Difference between State legislative Council and the Rajya Sabha
| Legislative Council | Rajya Sabha | |
| Origin | • The Charter Act of 1853 provided for a 12 member Legislative Council. • Article 169 of the Constitution of India makes provision for abolition or creation of Legislative Councils if that state’s legislature passes a resolution with a special majority.. | • The Government of India Act, 1919, a second chamber known as the Council of States. • The Rajya Sabha, its Hindi nomenclature, was adopted on 23 August 1954. |
| Members | • Under Article 171 of the Constitution, the Legislative Council of a state shall not have more than one-third of the total strength of the State Assembly, and not less than 40 members. | • The Rajya Sabha is to consist of not more than 250 members – 238 members representing the States and Union Territories and 12 members nominated by the President. |
| Election | • 1/3rd of the MLCs are elected by the state’s MLAs, • Another 1/3rd by members from municipalities and district boards, • 1/12th by an electorate of teachers and another 1/12th by registered graduates. • Remaining by the Governor for distinguished services in various fields namely, literature, science, art, cooperative movement and social service. | • The representatives of each State are elected by the elected members of the Legislative Assembly in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote. |
| Allocation of seats | • Currently, six states — Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka have a Legislative Council. | • The seats are allocated to the federating units on the basis of their population. • Therefore, the States and Union Territories do not have a uniform number of seats as is the case with many other federal chambers. |
| Age | • Minimum 30 years of age for membership. | • Minimum 30 years of age for membership. |
| Duration | • Like the Rajya Sabha, the legislative council is a continuing chamber, that is, it is a permanent body and is not subject to dissolution. • The tenure of a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) is six years, with one-third of the members retiring every two years. | • Rajya Sabha is a permanent body and is not subject to dissolution. • However, one third of the members retire every second year and are replaced by newly elected members. • Each member is elected for a term of six years. |
| Presiding officer | • A member from the Council itself is chosen as the Council Chairperson. | • The Vice President of India is ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha. • The House also elects a Deputy Chairman from among its members. . |
| Powers | • The legislative power of the Councils are limited. Legislative Council is not a revising body like Rajya Sabha it is only a directory chamber or an advisory body. • MLCs cannot vote in elections for the President and Vice President. • The Legislative assembly can override the Council by passing the bill for a second time . | • Rajya Sabha has equal powers with Lok Sabha in all spheres except financial matters and with regard to the control over the government. • Lok Sabha cannot override Rajya Sabha by passing a bill for a second time and vice versa. A joint sitting is the only way to resolve a deadlock comparatively |
Relevance of Legislative council:
- Check hasty decisions: The second house of legislation is considered important to
act as a check on speedy actions by the popularly elected house. If there are two
chambers, the measures passed by one would be scrutinised by the other minutely. - Reduce Workload: Due to rapid growth in the functions, a unicameral legislature
cannot cope with the work and devote fully to the bills brought before it for
enactment. In such cases, the Legislative council lessens the burden of the lower
house & enables the assembly to fully concentrate on measures of greater
importance. - Wider representation: Elderly, experienced individuals who cannot-bear the ordeal
of electioneering neither campaign can be accommodated in the Legislative Council
through the nominated quota. - Prevent autocracy: It is argued that the second house put a check on the autocratic
tendencies of the lower chambers. To vest the legislative powers with a popularly
elected house alone may prove harmful to the people of the state as legislation may
be arbitrary.
Arguments against having a second house
- Unnecessary Delay: If two different parties are in majority in legislative council &
legislative assembly, the upper house will delay bills for months unnecessarily. Thus
its role may become nasty & obstructive. - Vested interests: Legislative council serves only as a stronghold of vested interests
of people, who are not interested in legislation.
• The forum is likely to be used to accommodate party functionaries who fail to
get elected. - Limited check on legislative assembly: Power of the legislative councils are
limited and hardly impose any effective checks.
• For instance, as regards Money Bills, only fourteen days delay can be
caused by the council, which is more or less a formality rather than a barrier
in the way of money Bill passed by the Assembly. - Unnecessary drain on the exchequer Expenditure: It becomes an unnecessary
drain on the exchequer as its role is limited to the whims and fancies of the Legislative
Assembly.
Way forward
The Legislative Council acts as a check and balance on the autocracy of the legislative
assembly. Therefore rather than getting rid of it, several improvements can be made in its
functioning so that it can become a revising body rather than an advisory body. Some of the
steps that can be taken in this context are:
• Legislative council should be given power equivalent to Rajya Sabha and should
be made a second house and not a secondary house.
• Recommendation of committees like the 2nd ARC report need to be implemented for
improving the functioning of Legislative councils like the election of members of
legislative council, role of teachers and graduates, should be decreased or done
away with.
• There is a need for national policy on legislative councils, which should ultimately
decide whether a state needs such a body or not.
• Local bodies should be given more representation in the legislative council to
strengthen root level democracy. This will provide recognition to local bodies at the
state level just like Rajya Sabha provides representation to states at the national
level.
