NEW DELHI: Persistent absenteeism from meetings of department-related standing committees may cost member MPs their spot on parliamentary committees. This was the general consensus that emerged during a meeting of the chairmen of department related standing committees (DRSCs) with Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday morning.
In the meeting, Naidu voiced his concern over the functioning of parliamentary committees and shared the details of poor attendance with the chairpersons of all Rajya Sabha committees. Fifteen of the 16 chairmen heading the 20 committees of Rajya Sabha attended the meeting.
Last month, only four out of 29 MPs on a parliamentary panel showed up for a discussion on pollution in Delhi. East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir, who was among the absentees, stirred a controversy by being away for his cricketing engagements.
In Thursday's meeting, DRSC chairmen attributed the poor attendance, so far, to MPs' political obligations and commitments in their constituencies, a member said there was a general consensus in the meeting that regular absentees should be dropped from committees after they are duly cautioned about Naidu's concerns over the effective functioning of the DRSCs, and especially if performance of committees does not pick up even after the warning.
Naidu is also likely to discuss the issue of low attendance with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for similar action in the standing committees with Lok Sabha MPs as members.
Eight DRSCs with Rajya Sabha have held 41 meetings since their reconstitution in September this year. However, instead of the 80 members of Rajya Sabha represented on the eight DRSCs with the House, only 18 MPs attended all meetings.
Twenty eight MPs of the total 248 Members of DRSCs have not attended anRead More – Source
