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No delay in constitution of House panels, process underway: Rijiju
Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday denied any delay in reconstitution of the department-related parliamentary standing committees.
Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday denied any delay in reconstitution of the department-related parliamentary standing committees and said that the chairmanship of such panels will be distributed on the basis of the strength of respective political parties.
Government functionaries involved in discussions with various parties, meanwhile, indicated that the Congress, which has 98 lawmakers in the Lok Sabha, might be given the chairmanship of either the defence or the external affairs panel in the upcoming exercise. In 2014, the Congress had 44 MPs but the party led both finance and external affairs panels.
This time, however, the principal Opposition party has pressed for “qualitative and quantitative improvement” of its quota of chairmanship of panels.
Government functionaries have already indicated that the Congress was unlikely to head the home affairs panel as the party’s strength in the Rajya Sabha has gone down from 70 in 2014 to 27 in 2024. In the current situation, the Congress might head the defence or external affairs panel, the functionaries indicated.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to retain the parliamentary panel on finance, indicated a senior government functionary, who also argued that the Congress is already heading the Public Accounts Committee — which acts as the audit watchdog of the government.
On Monday, Rijiju refuted the Opposition’s criticism that the reconstitution of House committees was getting delayed.
“It is not proper to accuse that there is a delay in the constitution of Parliament committees. It has always been the case and especially since 2004 onwards, Parliament committees have been constituted between middle of September to the end of September,” the minister said.
He further said that the process to reconstitute House panels was underway. “We are offering seats to the Congress and other parties on the basis of their strength. We are asking the Congress to take over some panels. I am very hopeful. We had a discussion with the Congress and other parties. But very soon we will be able to constitute the panels,” he added.
Opposition parties might get chairmanship of six of the 16 department-related standing committees of the Lok Sabha, though these are unlikely to include key panels such as home affairs.
Government functionaries have already indicated that the panels will be reconstituted before the end of this month. In the 17th Lok Sabha, the committees were announced on September 14, 2019.
