Parliamentary Panels’ Virtual Meetings Not Possible: Vice President, Lok Sabha Speaker Reject Oppn’s Demand

New Delhi: Citing technicalities and confidentiality clause, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla have refused to allow parliamentary committees to function virtually because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

 Rejecting calls from the opposition as well as some parties supporting the Centre, the duo suggested that physical meetings can take place once the situation returns to normal, adding it will otherwise take for an amendment in the rules.

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A communique from the Rajya Sabha to Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said the House Committees of Parliament will not be able to meet online amid the raging second wave of Covid-19 pandemic as the relevant rules have not been amended.

This came as Kharge had last week appealed to Vice President Naidu, who is the Rajya Sabha chairman, to allow online meetings as many key subjects and issues are pending for discussion.

“The issue of confidentiality can be resolved during the session as any amendment to the Rules can be approved by the respective Houses only after the matter is considered by the Rules Committees,” the secretariat said in its reply.

The reply also acknowledged that authorities did consider suggestions to amend the rules during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic but the move lost momentum.

The decision has disappointed the opposition parties, which have quizzed how the government can carry on the construction of a new Parliament building as an essential activity but has ruled that legislative oversight is not essential.

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“I am not surprised. In spite of repeated requests for almost a year, virtual meetings of Standing Committees have been inexplicably disallowed. The PM has all his meetings virtually, but 30 odd MPs cannot. Nowhere in the world has Parliament run away from its duties like in India,” Congress MP Jairam Ramesh tweeted lambasting Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.