Joint Parliamentary Committee chairman P C Chacko on Tuesday hit out at BJP leader Yashwant Sinha for writing to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to appear before the panel examining the 2G spectrum scam, dubbing it as a "political stunt" and against established "norms".
"The decision of whether or not to grant you permission to depose before the Joint Parliamentary Committee will be taken on the basis of the members' opinion."
Suspended Congress leader claims 100 letters to Sonia Gandhi over leadership change
After a meeting of its working committee in New Delhi, the board adopted a resolution which stated that the recent judgment of the Supreme Court on the maintenance of Muslim divorcee women is "against the Islamic law (Shariah)".
Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari has told a television news channel that he has 'evidence' against Home Minister P Chidambaram's involvement in 2G spectrum scam.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G scam will resume its proceedings next week when former Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar appears before it as one of the 'essential witnesses' before the panel starts writing the draft report.
A Parliamentary committee on Friday asked the government to stop import of kerosene by private sector retailers as the imported fuel is being used for adulteration of diesel.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani met on Friday. This is their second meeting since the memo scandal that sparked off a tense stand-off between the civilian and military leadership. The informal meeting between Zardari and Kayani at the presidency took place after the ceremony to award Nishan-e-Imtiaz to Admiral Asif Sandila.
Among the new entrants to the Union cabinet, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been given the agriculture and rural development portfolios, Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda the health portfolio and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar the power portfolio.
The government rejected Left parties' charge that the Nuclear Liability Bill was designed to benefit American equipment suppliers and dismissed as unnecessary the controversy over a Parliamentary Committee recommendation for an amendment in supplier's clause.
Keith Vaz, Britain's longest-serving Indian-origin MP was on Thursday re-elected as chair of the British Parliament's influential Home Affairs Select Committee.
Officials have said an absence of drainage system and safety measures, and use of basement for commercial activities in violation of norms led to the death of three civil services aspirants at the coaching centre.
World over the condition of the poor continues to worsen. The new year will be no different. In India, scam and scandal ridden regime of the Congress-led UPA coalition has been exemplary in its cruelty towards the poor and the common man, writes Gopal Krishna.
The scandal shook English cricket to its core and led to numerous changes in coaching and administrative personnel at Yorkshire.
'Has the BJP not announced its candidates in Raebareli?'
A parliamentary committee has pulled up the finance ministry for not adhering to Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act in cutting revenue deficit by 0.5 per cent of GDP for 2005-06 saying there should not be deviations every now and then.
There was a shortfall in utilisation of funds for staff welfare to the tune of Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) in 2005-06 and Rs 57 crore (Rs 570 million) in 2006-07, said the Standing Committee on Railways in its latest report.
The Parliamentary Committee on Special Economic Zones on Friday said no further SEZs should be notified unless the law is amended to include changes pertaining to land acquisition.
Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam P C Chacko on Wednesday ruled out summoning Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to depose before the panel, saying there was no such precedent.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday met top officials of the finance and corporate affairs ministries to review the implementation of various announcements of the Union Budget FY24. "The finance minister underlined the importance of continuous assessment of progress to ensure that various announcements are implemented in a time-bound manner," the finance ministry said in a tweet. Sitharaman also discussed in detail various issues on the digital competition laws with Rajeev Chandrashekhar, the minister of state for entrepreneurship, skill development, electronics and technology.
Trinamool Congress's Lok Sabha MP Dinesh Trivedi would get the award for 2016 and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad would get it for 2015, the Lok Sabha secretariat said in a statement.
The bench said it was not questioning the credentials of the election commissioners appointed but the procedure.
The impending expulsion of Trinamool Congress (TMC) member Mahua Moitra from the Lok Sabha, three bills to replace criminal laws and a proposed law for the appointment of election commissioners are issues set to dominate the Winter Session of Parliament, with the government urging the Opposition to ensure a conducive environment for discussions in the House.
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.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G spectrum scam has deferred its October 3 meeting, in view of the Lok Sabha Speaker's efforts to persuade Bharatiya Janata Party, members who have threatened to quit the panel alleging bias on his part, its chairman P C Chacko said on Saturday.
The Government on Friday managed to have its way in the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam when the panel approved the draft report giving a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram with a 16-11 vote in its favour.
Women are a minuscule minority of those arrested under the IT Act.
Rahul Gandhi may also contest from Amethi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Rae Bareli, a seat which was previously held by Sonia Gandhi.
Union ministers said Parliament passing over two dozen Bills was evidence of increased productivity of Narendra Modi government 2.0.
The Congress on Thursday objected to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar deleting some portions of Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge's speech from official records, saying he used no unparliamentary words and some of the expressions he employed were earlier used even by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
A Parliamentary Standing Committee has pulled up the government for mere lip service to the recommendations of the Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee it had itself constituted in 2005 to study the status of Muslims in India.
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.
Opposition parties, including the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Bharat Rashtra Party and Samajwadi Party, came together in a show of unity on Thursday and accused the Modi government of getting the second half of the budget session washed out, while asserting that if this attitude continues, the country will move towards a "dictatorship".
The House, which was briefly adjourned in the morning, will now meet at 11 am on March 13 after recess.
Addressing the centenary year celebrations of the All India Presiding Officers Conference organised in the Himachal Pradesh State Assembly, Harivansh suggested various reforms to make law making legislatures more dynamic.
Opposition members said the former finance minister had misled the Lok Sabha on the Calcutta Stock Exchange payment crisis and the UTI fiasco.
A senior non-Congress MP, while briefing about their focus in the JPC on the 2G spectrum scam, said, "This JPC is very important. We understand the issue and we will fight tooth and nail to corner the government. My question is: can you sell petrol, milk or even vegetables in 2009 at the price of 2002? This government did it in the name of continuation of NDA's policy. How can you sell a new product at the price of an old product, at old rates?"
With the government inches closer to the setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee after the Congress party reportedly took a decision that enough damage had been done by Parliament being stalled and a signal filtering across that the government had something to hide, sources said that the modalities of how this has to be done are still to be worked out.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Jayalalithaa on Thursday said nothing short of a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2G spectrum scam was acceptable to her party. She claimed that former telecom minister A Raja's arrest showed that those backing him have now 'accepted his guilt'. "These parties had initially said Raja was not guilty. But they have now accepted his guilt, following his arrest," she told reporters.
During the debate on the 'Motion of Thanks on the President's Address', Leader of the House Piyush Goyal and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman strongly objected to 'insinuations' against the prime minister, who was also present in the House.
