Many may not know that our existing Constitution explicitly mentions two standing committees: one is the Public Accounts Committee, and the other is the Parliamentary Committee on Privileges. In other words, these two committees are of the highest importance, and they are also composed of some of the most important officeholders.

For example, in our 13th National Parliament, the Parliamentary Committee on Privileges has been formed with 10 members under the leadership of the Speaker. Its members include Prime Minister and Leader of the House Tarique Rahman, Leader of the Opposition Shafiqul Rahman, Deputy Speaker Kaiser Kamal, Mirza Abbas Uddin Ahmed, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Md. Nurul Islam, Zainul Abedin Farroque, and Nahid Islam.

Article 78 of the Constitution of Bangladesh concerns parliamentary privileges and immunities. Under its provisions, Parliament may regulate its own proceedings, and the courts have no jurisdiction to question such proceedings. The freedom of speech of members of Parliament is absolute, and this too falls outside the jurisdiction of the courts. To provide protection in these matters, Article 78(5) directs that a law concerning the privileges of Parliament and its members be enacted; however, such a law has not yet been enacted. It should be noted that Articles 76(2)(c) and (d), and 76(3) of the Constitution also relate to parliamentary privileges.

The concept of parliamentary privilege originated in the British Parliament. Writing on parliamentary matters in his famous treatise A Treatise on the Law, Privileges, Proceedings and Usage of Parliament, parliamentary scholar Erskine May wrote: “Parliamentary privilege is the sum of certain peculiar rights enjoyed by each House collectively and by members individually, without which they could not discharge their functions. These rights are additional to those possessed by other bodies or individuals, and therefore, although parliamentary privilege is part of the law of the land, it provides a degree of exemption from the ordinary law.”