House panels formed, jailed MPs kept out

Former telecom minister A Raja (DMK), former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda (Independent) and Suresh Kalmadi of Congress - the Lok Sabha MPs currently in Tihar Jail facing corruption charges - have temporarily lost their places in the Parliamentary standing committees.

Former telecom minister A Raja (DMK), former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda (Independent) and Suresh Kalmadi of Congress - the Lok Sabha MPs currently in Tihar Jail facing corruption charges - have temporarily lost their places in the Parliamentary standing committees. The reconstituted committees announced on Monday finds no mention of these three members.

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Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi - also chargesheeted in the 2G spectrum scam - has, however, retained her seat in the Parliamentary standing committee on human resource development.

No official reason has been given for dropping the three MPs from the committees. According to the Parliamentary rules, a member is entitled to be a part of a standing committee.

Some vacancies, however, are still available after this reshuffle.

The panel on personnel, public grievances, law and justice that is reviewing the Lokpal Bill has also been revamped.

Congress MP Manish Tewari, who had offered to quit the committee earlier, has retained his seat. Out of five vacancies in the panel, four have been filled.

CPI's Gurudas Dasgupta and BJD's Bhartruhari Mahtab - known critics of economic reforms - have managed to retain their seats in the standing committee on finance although the seats were not offered to these parties initially.

The bulletin issued by the Lok Sabha secretariat said that all the committees have been reconstituted with effect from August 31.