New committee to be formed to review conduct of everyday business in Rajya Sabha

The Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha, D. D. Verma, revealed on Monday that the Vice President of India and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha- Venkaiah Naidu has directed the formation of a two-member committee to review the rules of the procedures and conduct of business in the House.

"The Chairman of Rajya Sabha has constituted a 2-member committee to review rules of procedure and conduct of business in the House, particularly those provisions which seem to be inadequate and are not as specific as compared to the rules in Lok Sabha and suggest suitable amendments," said Verma.

The committee will be headed by former Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha, Dr V. K. Agnihotri, with retired Joint Secretary and Legislative Counsel, Ministry of Law and Justice to be the other member.

All suggestions and proposals for amendments and additions to rules will first be examined by the Secretariat and placed before the Committee in the form of a memorandum, stating the implications of each amendment.

The committee will then file a report with the Chairman of the house, following which the recommended changes will be taken into effect.

The formation of this committee comes the with an aim to improve the day-to-day functioning of the two houses of the Parliament, with both houses of the Parliament witnessing repetitive disruptions in its functioning, as was seen during the budget session recently.