No printed material should be used to sit, said Lok Sabha’s office (File)
New Delhi:
On Friday, the Lok Sabha secretariat issued guidelines on holding meetings of permanent parliamentary committees with the physical presence of members of Parliament with certain restrictions, while the government explores the possibility of convening the monsoon session in August or end of September in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
In light of the COVID-19 epidemic, the chairs of various expert groups asked the president of Lok Sabha Om Birla and the president of Rajya Sabha Venkaiah Naidu to hold virtual meetings, but were not allowed to do it.
In his guidelines, the secretariat of Lok Sabha said: “With further easing in the lockdown effected from July 1, parliamentary committee sessions can now take place while respecting certain restrictions.”
The secretariat has instructed that the seating arrangement in the committee room be strictly observed while respecting the standard of social distancing of six feet. Arrangements should be made to disinfect at the entrance to the committee room.
No printed documents should be used for the session and all documents related to the session should be sent to members in electronic form, said Lok Sabha’s secretariat, adding that the ministry / department appearing for evidence before the panel is not recommended. bring all materials, including annual reports or bags for members.
“The ministries / departments who appear before the committee may be advised to limit the number of officials to a maximum of five,” said the notification.
In the event that a ministry is forced to bring in more officials, arrangements could be made for their seat in the lobby, he said.
The secretariat also restricted the entry of its officials for the text recording of meetings of the standing committees and instead instructed to make arrangements for the audio recording of the meetings.
According to some sources, the meetings of the parliamentary committee are an exercise aimed at preparing Parliament for the holding of the monsoon session with the physical presence of the members.
They further stated that MM. Birla and Naidu had held several rounds of discussions on how to hold the monsoon session in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government is studying the possibility of holding the monsoon session of Parliament from the last week of August or the first week of September with the physical presence of deputies during the works, sources said on Wednesday.
However, sources said that following the increase in coronavirus cases, nothing has yet been finalized and it will be difficult to specify how the session will be held while meeting standards of social distancing.
Parliament ceased to function on March 23 after the budget session was adjourned sine die prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He resumed his activities this week with a meeting of the Committee on the welfare of other backward classes (OBC) in the Annex Parliament.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
