Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 8 (IANS) Both houses of parliament were adjourned sine die Thursday after the monsoon session that began Aug 1, with Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Hamid Ansari and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar regretted the loss of working hours due to repeated disruptions.

Only three bills were introduced in the Rajya Sabha while six others were either passed or returned to the Lok Sabha in the over month-long session, Ansari informed the house.

He said no business was transacted on 10 days. Cumulatively, 58 scheduled working hours were lost, only 65 out of the 500 questions were answered orally and over 27 hours set aside for discussions went unavailed.

“Only one calling attention was taken up in the session, against the target of two per week,” he said.

Expressing concern and calling for introspection, Ansari said the members should find ways to express their concern on various issues without “infringing the rules”.

“Many matters of public importance remain unattended. This is a sad commentary on the rights and duties of members to participate meaningfully in the proceedings of the house,” he said.

“It calls for introspection…it should not be beyond our collective endeavour to seek ways of expressing concern without transgressing on the rights of fellow members and without infringing upon our own rules for conduct of business,” Ansari added.

Meira Kumar, in her valedictory reference in the Lok Sabha, said: “In this session, the house sat late for 18 hours and 25 minutes. But, regrettably, we lost over 51 hours and six minutes of time due to interruptions followed by forced adjournments.”

“I am sure members are committed to check this tendency in order to strengthen our parliamentary form of democracy,” she added.

In 26 sittings spread over 104 hours and three minutes, the government introduced 11 bills, including the Lokpal Bill, the Land Acquisition Bill and the Nuclear Safety Bill, and passed 14 bills.