Rs Sets Up Ethics Panel

The Rajya Sabha yesterday set-up a nine-member ethics committee, a longstanding demand of the members. This is the first time that such a parliamentary committee has been set-up. The announcement was made in the House by its chairman, Vice- president KR Narayanan, at the end of the question hour. The committee will be headed by Congress MP SB Chavan. Other members are Rajya Sabha opposition leader Sikander Bakht, Kamala Sinha, E Balanandan, G Swaminathan, Renuka Choudhary, Ram Gopal Yadav, N Giri Prasad and Jayant Kumar Malhotra.

The demand for an ethics committee was raised by Rajya Sabha member I K Gujaral during the previous regime, when he was in the opposition.

The chairman had received complaints that the big industrial houses were lobbying through influencing MPs.

The purpose of the committee is to maintain good moral standards of the member both inside and outside the house.