New Delhi, September 2
Concerned over the repeated boycott of Parliament and unruly behaviour of Members of Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has convened a meeting of UPA leaders and Leaders of the Opposition of both Houses on November 18 to evolve a code of conduct for the smooth functioning of Parliament.
A letter to this effect has been sent by the Speaker to Leader and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha L.K. Advani and
V. K. Malhotra, respectively, and Leader and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh and Sushma Swaraj, respectively, sources said here today.
The meeting would be chaired by Chairperson of Rajya Sabha Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and the real purpose was to evolve some kind of code of conduct to ensure that the winter session of Parliament was conducted smoothly.
Though the Speaker wanted to hold the meeting early, the meeting was finally scheduled for November 18, keeping in view the Maharashtra poll, where top leaders of all parties would be fully involved.
The confrontation between the UPA and the NDA had resulted in premature adjournment of the Budget session. The Lok Sabha, which was scheduled to have 30 sittings spread over 180 hours, could sit for only for 24 days.
Of these 24 days, the House lost over 47 hours because of disorderly scenes that prompted abrupt adjournment.
According to the Lok Sabha Speaker, on seven days of the session, business transacted by the House was almost negligible and late sittings compensating for around 13 hours also became insignificant in the light of the huge amount of time that was lost because of disturbance.
Out of 441 starred questions admitted during the session, only 48 could be answered because of disruptions of question hour on many of the days, the Speaker had said. On an average, only about two starred questions could be answered verbally per day.
The Speaker, in his concluding remarks before Parliament was adjourned sine die, had said, “My humble efforts have proved to be inadequate and it is my great
sorrow that all attempts of the Chair to see that the House functions normally and that important businesses before the House are transacted after debate and participation by the members have not had the desired result.”
