RS chairman rejects two notices under Rule 267

Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday did not accept two notices on the border issue with China and rising prices of essential commodities under Rule 267 of the House, saying they were not in order.

However, he assured the opposition members that he would invoke Rule 267 on merits.

The chairman had given a similar assurance to the MPs while rejecting six notices under Rule 267 on Tuesday.

Under Rule 267 of Rajya Sabha's Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business, a listed business of the day can be suspended to take up an urgent matter with the approval of the Chair.

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After the listed papers were laid on the table of the House during the Zero Hour, Dhankar said he has received notices from Dola Sen (TMC) and Pramod Tiwari (Congress) for suspension of rules under Rule 267.

"The same is not in order," he said on Sen's notice on rising prices of essential commodities.

Tiwari's notice was on concern over illegal and unprovoked Chinese transgressions in Depsang Plains and parts of Arunachal Pradesh.

Dhankhar said the notice of Tiwari is lacking in every element of Rule 267.

Observing that his predecessors have invoked Rule 267 during their respective tenures, the Chairman said the number has never been in double digits during their five-year tenure.

"But I am not a statistics-driven person. If there will be an occasion, I will invoke the rule. If there will be no occasion, I will not invoke it...," he said.

Dhankhar also noted that on December 12 he had requested leaders of parties to allocate seats among their members for the sake of convenience and for compliance with rules in identifying from which seat the member whose name has been called is speaking.

"I am constraint to observe that my request has not drawn the desired attention till date," he said and added parties including Congress, AAP, TRS, Shiv Sena, and JDU are yet to allocate seats amongst their members.

He asked the parties concerned to forward the details without any further delay to the table during the course of the day.