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Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, in her remarks before adjourning the House sine die, said: “It is a matter of great concern that the House did not function on many days due to frequent disruptions. These disruptions will gradually render this institution irrelevant.”
In the Rajya Sabha, Chairman Hamid Ansari shared his dismay over the lowering of the “image of the legislature” in the eyes of the public due to frequent disruptions and adjournments.
“Rules for the conduct of business were sought to be flouted with disturbing frequency. These trends in the conduct of business have invited adverse comments and lowered the image of the legislature in the eyes of the public. Correctives have thus become imperative,” he remarked.
The Houses collectively lost about 115 hours of time to disruptions, with the Lok Sabha wasting away 70 hours and the Rajya Sabha 45 hours.
The Women’s Bill, which the Upper House eventually passed, demanding former Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor’s resignation, the Spectrum scam involving minister A Raja, caste-based Census are some of the issues to have rocked the Houses this session.
During the budget session, 37 Bills (27 in the Lok Sabha and 10 in the Rajya Sabha) were introduced, said Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs.
The session saw 21 bills being passed by the Lower House, while the Rajya Sabha passed 10. The government’s financial agenda was the dominant issue for discussion for this session.
On the Women’s Bill, Bansal said the government has to meet leaders of political parties for another round of consultations to sort out differences on the legislation.
DH News Service