JOIN USRS officials say quorum not necessary for all Parliamentary panel meets; Jairam calls it silly, bogus argument
A day after senior Congress MP Jairam Ramesh sought online meetings of Parliamentary Standing Committees raising concern about participation of MPs, Rajya Sabha officials on Wednesday said such panels were meeting without quorum for years and the requirement of minimum MPs present is necessary only for "taking decisions" and "adopting" reports and not for general discussions.
Officials cited that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, which is headed by Ramesh since last September, held 32 meetings during the last three years of which 22% were without quorum while the panel on Home Affairs headed by another senior Congress leader Anand Sharma held 38 meetings during this period while 21% were without quorum.
However, Ramesh, who chaired 11 meetings since his assumption as panel head in September, was not convinced with the argument and described it as "silly and bogus". He said there was quorum in all the meetings he chaired and that "disinformation virus has hit the media briefers in the Rajya Sabha too".
"Point isn’t about quorum alone. It’s about facilitating those MPs who want to attend and are unable to because of the containment zone and quarantine restrictions in their home states. Very different from not attending due to other commitments in normal times. On those occasions we did not have advance information always on who will attend and who will not. This time around MPs have informed before the meeting. Some have even requested for virtual meetings," he said in tweets.
Officials said the details of meetings without quorum in the past three years after Naidu took over as Chairman were referred to only to bring out that committees used to meet without quorum even in normal times. The information been shared with media so that MPs willing to attend the meetings should not be in any doubt whether such meetings will be held or not, on account of quorum requirement, they said.
The Science and Technology panel is scheduled to meet on Friday to discuss "preparedness to deal with Covid-19 and other pandemics in future" and Ramesh wrote to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu demanding a digital meeting, which he said several MPs cutting across party lines had sought.
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Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/national/parliamentary-panel-meet-on-covid-19-stares-at-postponement-as-mps-cite-travel-restrictions-quarantine-858167.html
Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/national/parliamentary-panel-meet-on-covid-19-stares-at-postponement-as-mps-cite-travel-restrictions-quarantine-858167.html
He had said many MPs have "expressed their inability to attend" the meeting because of "travel restrictions, quarantine and other constraints" and that he was “doubtful if we can muster up a quorum”.
However, officials said the quorum is necessary only for taking decisions and adopting reports by the committees and “not for taking up a general discussion on identified issues and for taking evidence” from the concerned ministries or departments.
"Committees have been meeting without the quorum over the years. It was clarified that a meeting of the committee without the quorum entitles the participating members for TA and DA," a senior official said.
CPI Parliamentary Party leader Binoy Vishwam, who is a member of the Science and Technology panel, said that he has already written to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat seeking virtual meetings, as it would be difficult for him to travel to Delhi at this point of time.
"It is unscientific, unethical and morally incorrect to hold a meeting and insist on physical presence now in Delhi where the Covid-19 situation remains serious. We are told there is no convention for holding online meetings of Parliamentary committees. This situation is now different. The pandemic has introduced several new practices, which were not used to earlier. So there is no point in holding on to conventions," he told DH.
A meeting of the Standing Committee on Petroleum headed by BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri was held on Tuesday in which 14 of the 31 members attended.
A similar meeting of the Sharma-led Home panel is also scheduled on July 15 to discuss management of Covid-19. Senior DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran on Monday wrote to Sharma seeking digital meeting, citing that Tamil Nadu has strict lockdown rules and he would have to be in quarantine on return that would "severely affect" his Parliamentary duties in his constituency.
Maran said he would not be able to attend the meeting physically if quarantine regulations are not waived for him.
There have been demands for holding the Parliamentary Standing Committee meetings through video conference but it did not go forward as the Parliament had to pass a resolution in this regard, officials said. Also, questions about confidentiality of proceedings were also raised.