Chair is non-partisan, says Dy Chmn

A day after Leader of Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley questioned the way the proceedings were being conducted, Deputy Chairman P J Kurien today said the Chair is non-partisan and follows established procedures to run the House.
Kurien said the Chair "is trying its best to be impartial" and gave the floor to ministers if a notice for making a statement or intervention is given by them.
Soon after papers listed for the day were laid on the table, he said some members have expressed "apprehensions about how the Chair is conducting" proceedings of the House.
Without naming anyone, he said members have complained that while some are called to speak, others are not.

"The Chair goes by a procedure ... (if) I have notices in my hand, it is my duty to dispose of the notices (first)," he said.
The first notice to be taken are under rule 267 that seek suspension of business, Kurien said, adding "whether to allow the motion (under rule 267), the Chair has to take a decision and to decide on that, the Chair has to listen to the members (who have given the notice)," he said.

Congress and other opposition parties have used notices under the rule to raise the Lalit Modi controversy and the Vyapam scam almost every day since the Monsoon Session of Parliament began and stalled proceedings.

"Some ministers have doubt whether they are being allowed to speak ... If a minister gives notice, that minister will certainly will be allowed to make the statement," he said.
Kurien further said, "Chair is trying its best to be impartial. Chair is not at all partisan."
Yesterday, Jaitely had taken strong objection to Congress members stopping their slogan-shouting to allow Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad and JD(U) leader K C Tyagi to speak but launched vociferous protests when it was the turn of the treasury benches.
"It is unfortunate the way House is being conducted ... LoP (Leader of Opposition) is allowed to speak while the government is not allowed to respond. ... You can't have the House conducted in a manner in which Government is not allowed to speak," Jaitley had said, telling the Chair that it was "your responsibility" to run the House properly.