Context

• The Lok Sabha Ethics Committee was last met on July 27, 2021, according to information on the Parliament website.

About Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha

• The members of the Ethics Committee are appointed by the Speaker for a period of one year. 
• A Presiding Officers’ Conference held in Delhi in 1996 first mooted the idea of ethics panels for the two Houses.
• Then Vice President (and Rajya Sabha Chairman) K R Narayanan constituted the Ethics Committee of the Upper House on March 4, 1997, and it was inaugurated that May to oversee the moral and ethical conduct of members and examine cases of misconduct referred to it.
• The Rules applicable to the Committee of Privileges also apply to the ethics panel.
• The Rajya Sabha constituted its first ethics panel on March 4, 1997 which was inaugurated by then Vice-President and House Chairman KR Narayanan on May 30, 1997.
• The Lok Sabha took three more years to form the panel as political turmoil during that period (India saw three Prime Ministers between 1996 to 1998) delayed the setting up of such a panel, a move that required the support of various parties in the House.
• In the case of Lok Sabha, a study group of the House Committee of Privileges, after visiting Australia, the UK, and the US in 1997 to look into practices pertaining to the conduct and ethics of legislators, recommended the constitution of an Ethics Committee, but it could not be taken up by Lok Sabha.
• The Committee of Privileges finally recommended the constitution of an Ethics Committee during the 13th Lok Sabha.
• The late Speaker, G M C Balayogi, constituted an ad hoc Ethics Committee in 2000, which became a permanent part of the House only in 2015.

What is role of the panel?

• The parliamentary portal says, the ethics committee will “oversee the moral and ethical conduct of the members and examine cases referred to it with reference to ethical and other misconduct of members.”
• In the Lok Sabha, both the privileges and the ethics panel come under the same branch.
• While the privileges committee looks into complaints raised by MPs against officials, media or other MPs, the ethics panel handles common people’s complaints against lawmakers.
• The original terms of reference of the panel says its mandate is “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 the members.”

• Any person can complain against a Member through another Lok Sabha MP, along with evidence of the alleged misconduct, and an affidavit stating that the complaint is not “false, frivolous, or vexatious”.
• If the Member himself complains, the affidavit is not needed.
• The Speaker can refer to the Committee any complaint against an MP.
• The Committee does not entertain complaints based only on media reports or on matters that are sub judice. The Committee makes a prima facie inquiry before deciding to examine a complaint.
• It makes its recommendations after evaluating the complaint.
• The Committee presents its report to the Speaker, who asks the House if the report should be taken up for consideration. There is also a provision for a half-hour discussion on the report.
• The Ethics Committee can take up only cases of misconduct that involve MPs.

Source: IE

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