Venkaiah Naidu seeks report on attendance at House panel meetings

Lawmakers were entitled to a special allowance amounting to 25% of the cost of their air travel to attend meetings before it was done away with in 2018.

NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has sought a report on attendance at parliamentary standing committee meetings when the lawmakers were entitled to a special allowance to attend them.

A recent photo of Rajya Sabha chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu at an event in New Delhi. (PTI)

People aware of the matter said the Rajya Sabha secretariat was asked to prepare the report after some lawmakers said at an informal interaction with Naidu that the allowance was an added incentive for many to attend the meetings regularly.

Lawmakers get ₹2,000 as a daily allowance for attending Parliament and House panel meetings. They also received a special allowance amounting to 25% of the cost of their air travel to attend the meetings before it was done away with when late Arun Jaitley was the finance minister in 2018.

“The Rajya Sabha chairman has asked the secretariat to find out the rate of attendance when this allowance was in place. While there is no plan to revive the allowance, the study is being done to see how the attendance of MPs (members of Parliament) can be improved,” said a Rajya Sabha official, who did not want to be named.

Low attendance at parliamentary committee meetings came up during an informal meeting of senior lawmakers with Naidu at his chamber after Parliament’s winter session concluded on December 22.

The issue was also discussed on December 21 at a meeting between Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and chairpersons of 16 House standing committees. Some leaders proposed that the quorum or minimum attendance of 10 (one-third of a panel) members should not be mandatory for all meetings.

“At least three chairpersons suggested that the quorum should be required for preparing or adopting a report. They argued that often the witnesses, many of whom come from other places to Delhi, are forced to return without deposition because of a lack of quorum,” said a lawmaker, who attended the meeting.

The lawmakers argued if quorum requirements are removed, then the hassles related to rescheduled meetings can be avoided. Birla told the members that this proposal would be sent to the Rules Committee and General Purpose Committee for approval.

“At Naidu’s meeting, much time was spent on discussing attendance at these meetings after Leader of the House and Union minister Piyush Goyal raised the topic,” said a person, who attended the meeting.

Naidu was quoted as saying he has been closely monitoring the attendance at the meetings of the eight committees of Rajya Sabha. He noted the attendance has improved substantially over the last three years. Naidu said the committees are complementing the Parliament in its functions.