As a controversy rages over the draft report by the Public Accounts Committee on the 2G scam, Parliamentary experts are unanimous that recommendations of a Parliamentary committee has to be accepted or at least "taken seriously" by the government.According to constitutional and parliamentary experts, though the PAC is a recommendatory body, reports of which are not legally binding, traditionally the government has accepted most of the reports submitted by it.
The opposition caused repeated disruptions in Parliament Friday over the NEET paper leak issue, with both Houses being adjourned for the day without transacting much business apart from the Rajya Sabha taking up the Motion of Thanks for the President's address amid protests including by the Biju Janata Dal, which almost always supported the BJP in the previous Lok Sabha.
Twitter on Friday temporarily blocked IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad's account for alleged violation of the US Copyright Act, a move that the minister slammed as being arbitrary and gross violation of IT rules.
In an extraordinary step, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence on Monday decided to call the three service chiefs to give an account of the state of preparedness of the forces against the backdrop of Army Chief Gen V K Singh speaking of shortages and deficiencies.
BJP's Adhikari said that an opposition MLA is usually appointed as the PAC chairperson following the norm, but the TMC misused that rule to appoint Roy as its chairman.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Wednesday wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla flagging alerts received by several opposition leaders about 'state-sponsored' attacks on their iPhones, and urged him to provide them protection to continue doing their duties.
A Parliamentary Committee on Wednesday recommended a composite foreign investment cap of 49 per cent in the insurance sector and supported a government Bill to amend the Act.
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will attend the meetings of the committee as a special invitee, while legal affairs secretary Niten Chandra will be secretary to the panel.
The Union finance ministry has rejected a proposal sent by the labour ministry to double the monthly minimum pension amount to Rs 2,000 under the Employee Pension Scheme (EPS). The Central Board of Trustees (CBT), the apex decision-making body of the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), was apprised of the proposal's rejection during a meeting on Saturday. "According to the recommendations made by a highly-empowered monitoring committee constituted by the government, a proposal to increase the minimum pension under EPS from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 per month, by providing additional budgetary support, was sent to the ministry of finance.
The 14-year political journey of Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra has encountered both upheaval and elevation, as her expulsion from Parliament in a cash-for-query case marked the culmination of her tumultuous parliamentary term.
'The PM who is first among equals, who has to listen to others, take their point of view into account and who would have to be a good manager'
The decision on Rahul Gandhi's appointment as the Leader of Opposition was made after a meeting of the floor leaders of the INDIA bloc at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's residence.
Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar sought views of leaders of various political parties on ways to curb disruptions in the House at a meeting held on Sunday on the eve of the start of the second phase of the Budget session.
BJP President Nitin Gadkari tells Gyan Varma that there is no disagreement within the party over the issue of a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the 2G Spectrum scam.
Britain's longest serving Indian-origin Labour MP Keith Vaz on Tuesday resigned from his post as chair of the influential House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee in the wake of being embroiled in a sex scandal.
It is high time to rethink the entire recruitment process for the civil services, the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice opined in its latest report.
Electoral setbacks and thwarted ambition can have an unpredictable effect on leaders,, observes Aditi Phadnis.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Saturday said Public Accounts Committee chairman Murli Manohar Joshi had no right to submit the draft report on the 2G scam to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar as it was 'rejected' by a majority of the committee's members.
People aware of the development said, Law Secretary Niten Chandra, Legislative Secretary Reeta Vasishta and others met Kovind this afternoon to understand how he would like to go about the agenda before the committee.
Rajya Sabha members Mausam Noor and Priyanka Chaturvedi have written to Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, complaining about 'sloganeering' from the visitors' gallery of the House on September 21 and requesting him to take action in the matter.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey on Sunday accused Trinamool Congress's Mahua Moitra of taking 'bribes' from a businessman to ask questions in Parliament and urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to constitute an 'inquiry committee' to look into the charges against her.
Tharoor said people have incurred losses after their money which was invested in LIC, SBI was put by the government "in its friend's account".
Citing former telecom minister A Raja's communication to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G scam, Bharatiya Janata Party member Yashwant Sinha on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, asking him to appear before the committee, following the allegations levelled against him. In his letter, Sinha said any hesitation on the PM's part to appear before the JPC will prove that he has "something to hide".
Yorkshire should be fined 500,000 pounds ($636,600) and have points deducted over their handling of racism allegations made by former player Azeem Rafiq, the ECB told a hearing.
'We are going to need more technical people in government.' 'You can't expect a generalist to understand the complicated world of financial engineering.' 'I regret to say that most of our politicians have no competence to deal with these things. Nor is there a willingness to learn.'
A high-level committee to explore the feasibility of conducting simultaneous elections, headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind, held its first meeting in New Delhi on Saturday and decided to invite political parties and the Law Commission to seek their views on holding synchronised polls in the country, a statement said.
The credibility of the examination system has also come under question, they said.
The Lok Sabha witnessed a heated debate Friday on an Ethics Committee report recommending Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra's expulsion in the cash-for-query issue, with the Opposition demanding she be allowed to speak in the House, and the government contending her views were heard by the panel.
With the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on a questioning spree in 2G spectrum scam case, it has not gone down well with Joint Parliamentary Committee chairman PC Chacko who feels that the PAC has gone beyond its mandate, and wants a 'conflict' to be avoided. Chacko underlined that the PAC's mandate was limited to looking into accounting irregularities in the 2G spectrum allocation as highlighted by the comptroller and auditor general, and it should not give an impres
Congress General Secretary, Digvijay Singh said on Friday that Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari should learn about parliamentary affairs and institutions before making comments.
'The people of Tamil Nadu in particular Chennai know about the double standards of the BJP. Nothing will work for them here.'
There is nothing to be worried about as bilateral ties are robust with solid foundations. Both are on the same page on the economic and defence/security ties bilaterally and globally and that shall continue irrespective of change in political dispensation in either country, points out Dr Rajaram Panda.
A Congress member in Public Accounts Committee on Friday suggested calling former head of Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Suresh Kalmadi before the Parliamentary panel examining CAG report on games irregularities, but its chairman and BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi seemed disinclined.
Even as Bharatiya Janata Party MPs are boycotting the Joint Parliamentary Committee looking into the 2G spectrum scam, the panel's chairman P C Chacko has ruled out summoning of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
With the prime minister rejecting his demand for appearing before the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha has alleged that Manmohan Singh gained "cheap publicity" by announcing at the Congress conclave that he was ready to appear before the Public Accounts Committee when he did not intend to do so.
With the 2G spectrum issue getting caught in a logjam in the Joint Parliamentary Committee, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday sought to bring the matter to the forefront of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee, saying the matter is pending and should be disposed of.
The turf war over 2G Scam inquiry has refused to die down with the Joint Parliamentary Committee planning to discuss on Thursday whether the Public Accounts Committee, chaired by senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi, has gone beyond its mandate.
Dr Murali Manohar Joshi, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, has said that the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the 2G spectrum scam would in no way hamper the job of the PAC that is investigating the massive scam right now.He was reacting to the statement made by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee that once the JPC was announced, the ongoing probe by PAC will amount to duplication of work.
Mahua asserted that despite all efforts by the Bharatiya Janata Party to "sound the death knell" for constitutional democracy, India is too great a country to be destroyed by the fascists.
