Amend rules to ensure House sessions: Prez

President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday called for changing the rules to make sure that Parliament was able to transact routine business in the event of prolonged disruptions.

Speaking at a function here, the President said that the lawmakers should explore possibilities of amending the rules to allow bothHouses of Parliament to function and carry out its business. Mukherjee’s suggestions come in the wake of a wash out of the monsoon session of Parliament owing to regular disruptions on several issues including coalgate. The President said that it becomes very difficult to transact routine and normal business when certain members of the House were highly agitated over some issues.

“If it appears that the rules do not reflect the situation which is prevailing they could be amended,” he said. He also said Parliament should give more time on discussing various pieces of legislation, especially those related to finance.

The President cited a suggestion made by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and said apart from scrutinising budgetary proposals of various ministries before they are sent to the House, the parliamentary panels should also go through the proposals after they are accorded the nod by Parliament.