7. COMMITTEE SECTION (PETITIONS)

Transcription

1 7. COMMITTEE SECTION (PETITIONS) 7.1 Main Functions: This Section deals with the following items of work:- (i) provides Secretarial assistance to the Committee on Petitions, General Purposes Committee, and such other ad-hoc Committees as may be assigned to this Section from time to time which involves issuance of notices for convening their meetings, preparation of agenda papers/ memoranda/ background notes/questionnaire/minutes/draft reports, etc. for the respective Committees; (ii) examination of petitions received for presentation or reporting to the Rajya Sabha in accordance with the provisions contained in Chapter X of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States; and (iii) processing of representations received from different quarters and wherever required, forwarding the same to the Ministries/Departments and Chief Secretaries of the States concerned for necessary action. 7.2 Examination of Petitions: The work of the Section in this respect involved examination of the petitions in the context of their admissibility under the Rules after obtaining comments/factual information from the concerned Ministries/Departments of the Central Government thereon. As against thirty three petitions received during the year 2010, a total of Fifty five petitions which were received during the year 2011, was found in the proper format. Those were examined in terms of the Rules governing their admissibility, out of which only the following three petitions were admitted by the Hon'ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha:- From whom received 1. Shri Sanjay Prabhu and others r/o Bangalore 2. Shri Bharat Jhunjhunwala and others, r/o Uttarakhand 3. Shri Rahul Gaur, r/o Noida, Uttar Pradesh Countersigned by Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member, Rajya Sabha. Subject matter of the petition Petition praying for grant for one rank one pension to the armed forces personnel. --- Petition praying for reexamination of the policy of making tunnel-based hydropower project. --- Petition praying for complete ban on the manufacture of spurious drugs in our country and other related issues. Date of presentation/ report to House (By Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP) (By Secretary- General) (By Secretary- General) Above petitions after their presentation/reporting to the House, stood referred to the Committee on Petition for examination and report. 7.3 Committee on Petitions: - Under Rule 147(1) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States, the Chairman, Rajya Sabha, nominates ten Members to the Committee which holds office until a new Committee is nominated. The Committee was reconstituted on the 29 th September, 2010 with Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari as its Chairman. The same Committee continued in office at the end of the calendar year, At the beginning of the year 2011, the following petitions were pending for consideration of the Committee:- From whom received 1. Shri Kedar Singh Fonia, MLA, Uttarakhand and six others Countersigned Subject matter of the petition by --- Petition praying for development of Railway network in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and 61

2 2. Dr. Anupama Singh, r/o New Delhi 3. Dr. Ranjana Kumari and Dr. Manashi Mishra, Centre for Social Research, Delhi. 4. Shri Prem Prakash Goyal, r/o Gangtok, Sikkim --- Petition praying for amendment in Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, Smt. Viplove Thakur, Petition praying for urgent need to curb female Member, Rajya Sabha Shri Narayan Singh Kesari, Member, Rajya Sabha Petition praying for protection of interest of bonafide Indian nationals residing in Sikkim prior to its merger with India in However, as compared to the previous year (2010) during which the Committee presented one Report, it concluded examination of four petitions during the year and the report thereon was presented to the House as per the following Table:- Report Subject-matter of the Report. Date of Presentation to House. 139 th Petition prying for urgent need to curb female th 141 st Petition praying for amendment in Section 498A of the Indian Panel Code, Petition praying for development of Railway network in Uttarakhand, nd Petition praying for grant for one rank one pension to the armed forces personnel. Copies of the Reports had been sent to the respective petitioner for their information. Report was also forwarded to the concerned Ministry for Action Taken Replies thereon Action Taken Replies: Examination of two ATRs i.e., on Hundred and thirty-fourth Report and Hundred and Thirty-sixth Report are under consideration of the Committee. ATRs on Hundred and Thirty-second, Hundred and Thirty-third, Hundred and Thirty-fifth Reports could not be taken up by the Committee due to paucity of time Meetings and Study visits of the Committee on Petitions: - The Committee held a total number of nineteen sittings during the year The details of the meeting, agenda, time taken, etc. are given below:- Date of Meeting Time Devoted Hrs-Mts. Main Agenda (i) To record oral evidence of the Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare urgent need to curb female foeticide; and (ii) To hear the petitioner protection of interest of bonafide Indian national residing in Sikkim prior to its merger with India in To record oral evidence of the Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development urgent need to curb female To record oral evidence of the Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs on the petitions praying for protection of interest of bonafide Indian national residing in Sikkim prior to its merger with India in 1975 and amendments in Section 498A of the IPC, To record evidence of non-official witnesses on the issues raised in the petition praying for urgent need to curb female 62

3 To record oral evidence of the Secretaries of the Ministries of Defence and Finance development of railway networks in Uttarakhand, To hear the petitioner on the petition for grant of one rank one pension to the armed forces personnel To hear certain organizations and individuals on the petition praying for grant of one rank one pension to the armed forces personnel To record oral evidence of the Secretaries, Ministries of Defence and Finance grant of one rank one pension to the armed forces personnel To hear certain organisations/ individuals on the petition praying for amendments in Section 498A of the IPC, To hear certain organisations/ individuals on the petition praying for amendments in Section 498A of the IPC, To record oral evidence of the Secretaries Department of Expenditure (M/o Finance) and Department of Pensions and Pensioner's Welfare (M/o Personnel Public Grievances and Pensions) grant of one rank one pension to the armed forces personnel To hear the representatives of National Commission for Women and National Commission for Protection of Child Rights amendments in Section 498A of the IPC, (i) To record oral evidence of the Secretary, Department of Expenditure (M/o Finance) grant of one rank one pension to the armed forces personnel; and (ii) To record oral evidence of the Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development amendments in Section 498A of the IPC, To consider and adopt draft 139 th Report on the petition praying for urgent need to curb female To consider and adopt draft 140 th Report on the petition praying for amendments in Section 498A of the IPC, To consider Memorandum 2/2011 regarding inordinate delay in submission of revised Action Taken Report (ATR) by Department of Financial Services (M/o Finance) on Hundred Thirty-sixth Report benefits of pay revision and pension to the VRS optees and retirees of IFCI (i) To record oral evidence of the Secretary, Department of Financial Services (M/o Finance) alongwith CEO & MD, IFCI Ltd on Action Taken by Government on Hundred and Thirtysixth Report benefits of pay revision and pension to the VRS optees and retirees of IFCI; and (ii) To record oral evidence of the Chairman, Railway Board, Ministry of Railways development of railway networks in Uttarakhand, To record oral evidence of the Secretary, Department of Exservicemen Welfare (M/o Defence) grant of one rank one pension to the armed forces personnel To consider and adopt the following draft Reports:- (i) 141 st Report development of 63

4 railway networks in Uttarakhand, other Himalayan States; (ii) 142 nd Report grant of one rank one pension to the armed forces personnel Study visits of the Committee on Petitions during the year Dates Places Visited Discussions held with Purpose to 25 Bhubaneswar, (i) Interaction with the (i) In connection with the January, Mumbai and Goa representatives of the examination of issues 2011 NGOs, Women's Groups, raised in the petition Medical and Legal submitted by Dr. Ranjana Practitioners, Social Kumari and Dr. Manasi Activists etc. and State Governments officials on the petition praying for urgent need to curb female Mishra of Centre for Social Research, New Delhi on the petition praying for urgent need to curb female to 27 April, 2011 (ii) Interaction with representatives of the Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd alongwith the Officials of Ministry of Railways (Railway Board) newtwork in Uttarakhand, Srinagar. (i) Interaction with the representatives of the NGOs, Women's Groups, Medical and Legal Practitioners, Social Activists etc. and the concerned State Governments representatives on the petition praying for urgent need to curb female (ii) Interaction with the representatives of the IRCON alongwith the Officials of Ministry of Railways (Railway Board) newtwork in Uttarakhand, (ii) In connection with the examination of issues raised in the petition submitted by Shri Kedar Singh Fonia, MLA, Uttarakhand and six others, all resident of Uttarakhand network in Uttarakhand, (i) In connection with the examination of issues raised in the petition submitted by Dr. Ranjana Kumari and Dr. Manasi Mishra of Centre for Social Research, New Delhi on the petition praying for urgent need to curb female (ii) In connection with the examination of issues raised in the petition submitted by Shri Kedar Singh Fonia, MLA, Uttarakhand and six others, all resident of Uttarakhand network in Uttarakhand, Besides attending to the work connected with the meetings of the Committee on Petitions, the Section also handled all correspondence with the Ministries/Departments concerned on various 64

5 aspects connected with the implementation of the recommendations/observations of the Committee as contained in its Reports presented to the House from time to time General Purposes Committee: - From 1 st July 2000 onwards the provisions relating to General Purposes Committee (GPC) find place in Chapter XXIII of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States. In accordance with Rule 279(2), the Committee holds office until a new Committee is constituted. The functions of the Committee are to consider and advise on such matters concerning the affairs of the House as may be referred to it by the Hon ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha from time to time. No fixed number has been laid down for its membership and the Deputy Chairman, Members of the Panel of Vice-Chairmen, Chairmen of all Standing Parliamentary Committees of Rajya Sabha, Leaders of recognized Parties/Groups in the House are nominated to this Committee. The Committee with thirty-one Members was reconstituted on the 26 th October, Hon ble Chairman nominated/re-nominated Members to fill the vacancies caused due to retirements and resignation in All the new Members of the Committee were informed about their nominations through letters individually addressed to them Meetings of General Purposes Committee:- None of meeting held during the year, Preparation of Paragraphs for inclusion in the Journal of Parliamentary Information: Paragraphs for inclusion in the Journal of Parliamentary Information containing information about the work transacted by the two Committees, namely, the Committee on Petitions and the General Purposes Committee were prepared and sent from time to time to the Research & Library Section for incorporation in the Journal being issued quarterly Representations received from various individuals/organizations: As against three hundred and seventy five in the last year, five hundred and three representations on various subjects addressed to the Hon'ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha/Chairman, Committee on Petitions/Secretary- General, Rajya Sabha, were received from different quarters during the year All such representations were examined in the Section and in appropriate cases copies thereof were sent to the concerned Ministries/Departments and concerned State Governments for appropriate action. Replies received from the Ministry/Department on their representations were also sent to the representationist in most of the cases Settlement of Refreshment Bills: Eighty bills received from the Assistant Commercial Officer (Catering), Northern Railway, Tea Board, Coffee Board, Parliament House Complex in respect of refreshment served in the meetings of the Committees were processed and sent for payment to the Establishment (Accounts) and Budget Section Settlement of TA/DA Bills of none official witnesses/petitioners: During the year 2011, eight TA/DA Bills of non official witnesses/petitioners, who appeared before the Committee, has been settled by the Committee Section Budgetary Allocation: This Section was allocated a sum of Rs. 50,000/- in the Budgetary grant for the Financial Year under the Head Other Administrative Expenses ( )" out of which Rs. 29,546/- was utilized for settlement of Bills in respect of refreshments served in the meetings of the Committees till 31 st December, Status of Computerization: This Section has been provided with Five Pentium based PCs, which were extensively used for disposing of various items of work assigned to the Section. All computers have been linked with Local Area Network and internet facilities. The Section is regularly feeding and updating the data in the Committee Software and uploaded Reports to the Rajya Sabha Website. and SMS facilities were used to inform the Members about the meetings of the Committee. Computerized diary of the receipt has also been done in the Section receipts were diarized in the year

6 7.12. Training: None of the officials of the Section was deputed for training during the year, Inspection of the Section during the year: The Annual Office Inspection of the Section for the year 2011 was conducted on 2 nd February, 2011 by Shri Alok Chatterjee, Director Goals and objectives of the Section achieved during the year: The details of the activities undertaken by the Section in the year 2011 have been enumerated above. Similarly, a quarterly statements on the petitions pending before the Committee was compiled and submitted for perusal/information of the Chairman, Committee on Petitions. In the context of the goals of this Section, an Action Plan was also prepared and acted upon. These goals were, to a large extent, achieved with success. 66