Opposition members in the Ethics Committee of Rajya Sabha did not allow any discussion on the untoward incidents in the Parliament on Wednesday, the last day of Monsoon Session. At a meeting of the panel held here on Friday, the Opposition members urged panel’s Chairman and veteran BJP leader Shiv Pratap Shukla not to take up any new agenda without any written complaints.
When asked, Shukla told BusinessLine that no discussion on Wednesday’s proceedings in Rajya Sabha came up during the meeting as it was not in the agenda. The Centre had indicated on Thursday that a complaint to Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu by the BJP Parliamentary party that some Opposition members attacked the watch and ward staff and destroyed House properties on Wednesday could be forwarded to the Ethics Committee.
“At the beginning of the meeting, we requested the Chairman not to take up any agenda that is not circulated yet. We also told him that by convention,. Ethics panel cannot discuss an issue without written complaints circulated to the members,” an Opposition member said.
According to a treasury bench member in the panel the notice for the meeting was served without any agenda and he was told to stay in Delhi to attend the meeting. “I was informed that the meeting is to discuss a complaint by the Centre. The Chairman had also expressed anguish and displeasure at the developments inside the House,” he said.
A former secretary general of the Lok Sabha PDT Achary told BusinessLine that either the Ethics Committee or the Privileges Committee can take up the issue of behaviour of MPs but only based on a written direction by the Chairman or from the affected parties. Citing the example of Kishore Chandra Deo panel, formed to probe the Cash-For-Vote scam in 2008, he said any new panel for inquiring untoward incidents in the House can be formed only through a motion moved and approved in the House.
Opposition members were also caught unawares by the sudden decision to call a meeting of the panel.
The BJP had demanded strict action against some Opposition members for allegedly violating discipline and decorum of the Upper House. The Opposition had questioned the unusually large presence of watch and ward personnel during the discussion on the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendments Bill. They had also told Chairman Venkaiah Naidu in a letter that the security personnel attacked women MPs on Wednesday.