37. TABLE OFFICE. 234 th th No. of days with late sittings and duration

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1 37. TABLE OFFICE Main Responsibilities: Table Office is primarily concerned with the day-today business of the House. The main subjects dealt with in the Section during the year 2015 were: 1. Preparation of List of Business. 2. Laying of Papers on the Table of the House. 3. Statements by Ministers. 4. Parliamentary Bulletin Part-I. 5. Co-ordination work relating to issue of Parliamentary Bulletin Part-II. 6. Business Advisory Committee. 7. Preparation of daily Memorandum of Business for the Hon'ble Chairman, Hon'ble Deputy Chairman, Secretary-General and other Officers at the Table. 8. Preparation of a Statement showing names of Office-bearers of various Parties/ Groups. 9. Statement showing Party-position in the Rajya Sabha. 10. Preparation of Alphabetical List of Members of the Rajya Sabha. 11. Allocation of seats to Members in the Chamber. 12. Oath/Affirmation by Members. 13. Divisions in the House. 14. Resignation by Members, vacation of seats and filling up of casual vacancies. 15. Obituary References. 16. References by the Chair on important national and international events. 17. Felicitations by the Chair 18. Preparation and issue of the publication entitled List of Members of Rajya Sabha showing, inter alia, permanent and Delhi Addresses and Telephone Numbers of the Members of Rajya Sabha. 19. Issue of Membership Certificates to the ex-members to enable them to avail pension, CGHS facility, etc. 20. Biennial/Bye-elections to the Rajya Sabha. 21. Issue of congratulatory letters to the newly elected/re-elected Members. 22. Welcome to New Members and Good wishes to retiring Members. 23. Announcements/Rulings/Observations by the Chairman. 24. Re-constitution of Panel of Vice-Chairmen, Rajya Sabha. 25. Preparation and issue of the publication entitled Resume' of the Business transacted by the Rajya Sabha after each of its Session. 26. Maintenance of Minutes Book of the Proceedings of the House. 27. Maintenance of Roll of Members and Member s Index Cards. 28. Maintenance of Register of Obituary References/References made in the House. 29. Maintenance of Register of Form-III and Form-IV of Members, as per Rule 4 and Rule 5 (1) of the Members of Rajya Sabha (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules, Maintenance / updation of Precedents Register and updation of the Precedents Management System on the Rajya Sabha Website. 31. Data feeding of Members/ex-Members information in MIS Software. 32. Preparation of Statements showing the "Statistical Information" and "Highlights of the work - At a Glance" transacted during each Session. 33. Digitization of old records/files. 34. Supply of information under the Right to Information Act, Review and Weeding out of old files/records. 36. Updation of information concerning Members of Rajya Sabha through Officers/Section Login system Sessions of the Rajya Sabha: There were four Sessions of the Rajya Sabha during the year 2015 i.e., 234 th, 235 th, 236 th and 237 th Sessions. Details regarding duration, etc. of these are given below: Session Date of Commencement Date of termination Total No. of Sittings 243 No. of days with late sittings and duration Actual hours sitting (excluding lunch break) Hrs. Mts. Days Hrs. Mts. 234 th th of

2 236 th th Obituary References: 33 Obituary References [9 in 234 th, 6 in 235 th, 11 in 236 th and 7 in 237 th Session] in respect of sitting/ex-members of Rajya Sabha and important national and inter-national personalities were prepared and made in the House References by the Chair: 16 References [1 in 234 th, 6 in 235 th, 3 in 236 th and 6 in 237 th Session] on different subjects were prepared and made in the House Felicitations by the Chair: The Chair offered felicitations to the scientists, engineers and technicians of ISRO, who were associated with the successful launches of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS-ID) by PSLV C-27, PSLV C-28, Astrosat, a Space Observatory, two communications satellites, GSAT-6, GSAT-15 and six earthobservation satellites in space through the launch Vehicle PSLV C-29 during the 235 th, 236 th and 237 th Sessions. The Chair also offered felicitations to Ms. Saina Nehwal and Ms. Sania Mirza on becoming the first Indian women players to attain the world number one ranking in Women s Badminton Singles and Woman s Tennis Doubles respectively, during the 235 th Session. The Chair also offered felicitations to Ms. Sania Mirza, Shri Leander Paes and Shri Sumit Nagpal for winning the Women s Doubles, Mixed Doubles and Boy s Doubles titles respectively in the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships, during the 236 th Session Retirement of Members: In accordance with the provisions of clause (1) of article 83 of the Constitution, 10 Members (Jammu and Kashmir 4, Kerala-3, Puducherry-1, and Nominated-2) of the Rajya Sabha retired on completion of their term of office during the year Parliamentary Bulletin Part-II showing the names of Members of Rajya Sabha retiring on the expiration of their term of office during the year was issued on the 5 th of January, 2015, for information of Members Biennial Elections to the Rajya Sabha: The Notifications issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice (Legislative Department) in connection with the Biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha and programme of elections received from the Election Commission of India were reproduced in Parliamentary Bulletin Part-II for information of Members. In the Biennial elections held during the year 2015, 8 Members (Jammu and Kashmir 4, Kerala -3 and Puducherry - 1) were elected/re-elected to the Rajya Sabha. All these Members made and subscribed oath/affirmation and entries relating to their elections were made in the Index Cards and Register Bye-elections to the Rajya Sabha: 5 Members namely, Shri Amar Shankar Sable (Maharashtra), Shri Raj Babbar (Uttarakhand), Ms. Dola Sen (West Bengal), Shri M. J. Akbar (Jharkhand) and Shri Narendra Kumar Swain (Odisha) were elected to the Rajya Sabha in the Bye-elections held to fill the casual vacancies. All these Members made and subscribed oath/affirmation and entries relating to their elections were made in the Index Cards and Register Congratulations to newly elected/re-elected Members: Congratulatory letters were issued to all newly elected/re-elected Members, after receiving their declaration of results from the Returning Officers of the concerned State Vacation of Seats: 1. Death: Three seats became vacant due to the demise of three sitting Members, namely, Shrimati Manorama D. Sharama, Shri Kalpataru Das and Shri Khekiho Zhimomi and entries relating thereto were made in the register. A copy each of the Notifications was also sent to the Election Commission of India for necessary action. 2. Resignation: Two seats became vacant due to resignation by two Members, namely, Shri Mohammad Shafi (Jammu and Kashmir) and Shri Srinjoy Bose (West Bengal). Necessary entries relating thereto were made in the register. A 244

3 copy each of the Notifications was also sent to the Election Commission of India for necessary action Naming of Members in Bulletin Part-I: The names of Members who entered the Well of the House was noted, compiled and included in the Part-I Bulletins as and when such incidents happened during each Session Panel of Vice-Chairmen: The Chairman, Rajya Sabha nominated Shri T.K. Rangarajan on the Panel of Vice-Chairmen on the 5 th of May, 2015 to fill up the vacancy caused on the Panel due to the retirement of Shri P. Rajeeve on expiration of his term of Office on the 21 st of April, The Member was informed of his nomination and an announcement in this regard was made by the Deputy Chairman in the House on the 5 th of May, List of Business: 203 Lists of Business and Papers to be Laid on the Table as detailed below were issued in connection with the Sessions of the Rajya Sabha during the year 2015:- Session Papers to be Laid on the Table Main List of Business Revised List of Business Supplementary List of Business 234 th th th th The final CRC versions of Lists of Business and Lists of Papers to be Laid on the Table are now placed directly on internet by the Section itself w.e.f. the 212 th Session of Rajya Sabha. The CRC version of the List of Business and Lists of Papers to be Laid on the Table are also sent to the Government Press electronically through along with hard copy of the final CRCs Meetings of the Business Advisory Committee: 14 meetings of the Business Advisory Committee [5 in 234 th, 3 in 235 th, 3 in 236 th and 3 in 237 th Session] were held to allocate time for Government Legislative and other Business. The House was informed by the Presiding Officer about the allocation of time recommended by the Committee. The recommendations of the Committee as announced in the House was also published in the Bulletin Part-II for information of Members. Minutes of the meetings of the Business Advisory Committee were prepared, got approved and circulated Meetings of the Chairman with Leaders of various political parties/groups: During the year 2015, 2 meetings were held on the 28 th of July and the 18 th of December, All arrangements for the said meetings were done by the Section and Record Notes were prepared and got approved for record purpose Papers Laid on the Table: 5042 papers were laid on the Table of the House during the year [997 in 234 th, 1315 in 235 th, 1039 in 236 th and 1691 in 237 th Session]. All these papers except Notifications were received and processed by this Section Statements by Ministers: 110 Statements [23 in 234 th, 21 in 235 th, 36 in 236 th and 30 in 237 th Session] and 8 Statements regarding Government Business [3 in 234 th, 2 in 235 th, 3 in 236 th and 237 th Session] were made/laid in the House by Ministers during the year The item Statement regarding Government Business, which was earlier taken up without formal entry in the List of Business was listed for the first time in the Revised List of Business on the 24 th of July, 2015, during the 236 th Session Memorandum of Business: Memorandum of Business were prepared for 69 sittings [19 in 234 th, 13 in 235 th, 17 in 236 th, and 20 in 237 th Session] for use of Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Secretary-General and other Officers at the Table. 245

4 Newsletter from the Secretary-General, Rajya Sabha : Weekly reports and a final consolidated report containing the significant incidents of procedural value that took place during each Session of the Rajya Sabha were prepared, got approved and forwarded to General Research Unit of the LARRDIS for inclusion in the Newsletter Digitization of old records/files: 123 Old files/records pertaining to the following subjects and some registers/folders of the Section were sent to O&M Section for digitization:- 1. Disqualification of Members of Rajya Sabha 2. Election of Deputy Chairman 3. Telecasting of proceedings of Rajya Sabha 4. Recognition of the Leader of House/Leader of the Opposition 5. Farewell to Hon ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha 6. Vacation of seats by Members including their expulsion/suspension Soft copy of the digitized records has been obtained and is stored in the Section Cases under the Right to Information Act, 2005: During the year under review, 153 applications from various persons were received from the RTI Cell. The replies to the queries raised by the applicants were prepared in the language of the application and sent to the CPIO, well in time, for onward transmission to the concerned person(s). After adoption of the RTI Online System, launched by the Department of Personnel and Training, Government of' India by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat on the 1 st of October, 2015, RTI applications received through the RTI Request & Appeal Management Information System (RTI-MIS) are being processed at the DPIO level and replies are now being sent through RTI-MIS. During the year 2015, 26 applications received through RTI-MIS were disposed of Statements showing the "Statistical Information" and "Highlights of the work - At a Glance" : Statements showing the "Statistical Information" and "Highlights of the work" transacted during each Session were prepared for making valedictory remarks by the Chairman, Rajya Sabha before conclusion of each Session of the Rajya Sabha. The approved copy each of these Statements were circulated to the Members of Rajya Sabha and also provided to the Media Education and Audio Visual Unit for distribution to the Press and Media persons. The statements were also uploaded on the Website Membership Certificate: 36 Membership Certificates were issued in favour of Ex-Members of the Rajya Sabha to enable them to avail pension, CGHS facilities, etc Parliamentary Bulletins: Rajya Sabha Parliamentary Bulletin Part-I Nos to 5234 containing brief record of proceedings of the meetings of the Rajya Sabha held during the year, were prepared, got approved, printed and issued. Rajya Sabha Parliamentary Bulletin Part-II Nos to were also got printed and issued during the year. The final CRC version of Parliamentary Bulletin (Part-I) is now placed directly on the Internet by the Section itself w.e.f. 212 th Session of Rajya Sabha (November-December, 2007). The CRC version of Parliamentary Bulletin Part-II is also placed on Internet directly w.e.f. 193 rd Session of the Rajya Sabha (July-August, 2001). The CRC version of Parliamentary Bulletins (Part-I and Part-II) is also sent to the Government Press electronically through along with hard copy of the final CRCs Division: During the year 2015, 25 divisions [12 in 234 th Session and 13 in 235 th Session] were held in the Rajya Sabha. The final Results of the Divisions were compiled by tallying the Vote Recording Sheets and the Division Slips submitted by Members and the results were published in Bulletin Part-II on the same day. The final results of the Divisions were compiled and sent to Editing (English) Section for incorporation of the same in the Printed Debates of the Rajya Sabha Resume of the Business Transacted by the Rajya Sabha: Resume of the Business transacted by the Rajya Sabha during the 234 th, 235 th, and 236 th Sessions were prepared, got 246

5 printed and circulated amongst the Members of the Rajya Sabha, Public Libraries, Lok Sabha Secretariat and Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. The final CRC versions of the Resume were also uploaded on the Website List of Members: After the Biennial/Bye elections to the Rajya Sabha, the manuscript of the publication entitled List of Members, Rajya Sabha (November 20, 2015 edition) pertaining to the year 2015, showing permanent and Delhi addresses and telephone numbers, etc. of Members, was prepared and got approved and forwarded for final printing Other Lists: During the year, following Lists were prepared as indicated against each:- Party-Position in the Rajya Sabha 19 Alphabetical List of Members 15 Division List 04 Attendance Register 04 The Section also prepared printed coloured Seating Arrangement charts during each session, for use of the Hon ble Chairman, Secretary-General and others, as and when changes were made in the seating arrangement of Members Maintenance and updation of Precedents Register and updation of Precedents Management System: As usual, precedent entries are initially recorded manually in the Precedents Register. Thereafter, all the entries recorded manually in the precedents register were entered into the software. The system is available on the website of Rajya Sabha with restricted access Review and Weeding out of old files/records : 249 old files and records pertaining to the period from 1992 to 2000, were reviewed and 105 files having no retention value were weeded out and destroyed after approval. 144 files were retained. The old files and records pertaining to the year 2007, were also reviewed and after obtaining the approval 44 files were weeded out and 34 files were retained. The old Session folders containing Memorandum of Business pertaining to the period from 1996 to 2000 were reviewed. The contents/pages containing some precedent value on parliamentary practice and procedure were kept separately in the Guard File and the rest of the folders were destroyed after approval Updation of information concerning Members of Rajya Sabha through Officers/Section Login system: Information regarding permanent/local address and telephone numbers, addresses, etc. of Members received on-line through software Officers/Section Login was updated regularly. 5 such requests received during the year 2015 through Officers/Section Login was updated SMS Utility: The software introduced by NIC was utilized by the Section for sending SMS alert to Members regarding meetings of the Business Advisory Committee and meetings of Leaders of various parties/groups with Chairman, Rajya Sabha Status of Computerization: Table Office has been fully computerized and working efficiently since This Section has been preparing camera-ready copies of List of Business, List of Papers to be Laid on the Table, Parliamentary Bulletins (Part-I and Part-II) and Resume of the Business transacted during each Session. The CRC version of List of Business, List of Papers to be Laid on the Table and Parliamentary Bulletins are sent to Translation Section and the Government Press through . Lists of Business, Lists of Papers to be Laid on the Table and Parliamentary Bulletins (Part-I and Part-II) are also uploaded directly on the Internet Updation of Rajya Sabha Website: This Section is responsible for updation of the following information on the Rajya Sabha Website:- 1. List of Business 247

6 2. Parliamentary Bulletin Part -I 3. Parliamentary Bulletin Part II 4. Papers to be Laid on the Table 5. Publication entitled Resume of the business transacted during each Session of the Rajya Sabha 6. List of sitting Members showing their names, party-affiliation, State, Addresses, telephone numbers, Division Number etc. through Members Information System (MIS). 7. Party-position in the Rajya Sabha. 8. Division No. wise List of Members 9. Presiding Officers of Rajya Sabha 10. Panel of Vice-Chairmen 11. General Information for Members 12. Officers/Section Login - Updation of information concerning Members of Rajya Sabha received on-line 13. Disqualification of Members on Ground of Defection 14. Valedictory Address and Statistical Information All data were regularly and promptly updated on the website including Circulars issued by the Section Goals and Analysis: The basic nature of the work allotted to this Section pertains to day-to-day business of the House. In view of this, it is difficult to set targets in physical terms for the Section because most of the work assigned depends on many external factors, which are beyond the control of the Section. However, it has always been the endeavour of the Section to discharge all its responsibilities promptly and efficiently. With total computerization and coordinated efforts of the Section, this was achieved quite successfully Inspection Report: The inspection of the Section for the year 2014 was done by Shri Rakesh Prasad, Joint Director on the 17 th of July, The inspection of the work transacted in Hindi in the Section during the year 2014 was done by Shri Kali Saran Budakoti, Deputy Director and Shri Rajesh Gaur, Assistant Director, on the 4 th of June, Budget: The Section has been earmarked two Heads of expenditure. The details of Budget Estimates, expenditure incurred and Revised Estimates under the said Heads during the Financial year are as given below: Head of Expenditure Budget Estimates Expenditure incurred Revised Estimates 02 Members Other Admn. Expenses 1,00,000/- 56,538/- 1,00,000/- (Expenditure incurred on meetings of the Business Advisory Committee, Oath Taking Ceremonies, Leaders meetings etc.) 01 Chairman & Dy. Chairman Other Admn. Expenses (Expenditure incurred on dinner meetings of the Hon ble Chairman with the Leaders of the various parties/groups in Rajya Sabha) 2,00,000/- 6474/- 2,00,000/ Training: During the year, the following Officials of the Section attended various training programmes organised by the Training Unit/RTI Cell:- Sr. Name and Designation Date Programme No. 1. Ms. Chitra G., Assistant Director 17 Sep 2015 Training Session on Adoption and Joining of RTI Online System and duties and responsibilities of Deemed PIOs (DPIOs) 2 Shri Gaurav Sharma, Senior -do- -do- Clerk 3. Shri Anil Kumar Bhatia, Legislative Officer May 2015 Legislative Drafting and Parliamentary Procedures at IIPA, New Delhi 248

7 4. Shri Pramod Singh Rawat, Senior Clerk 5. Shri Alok Kumar Pankaj, Senior Legislative Assistant 2-6 Feb 2015 Comprehensive in-house training Programme Level JL-2 for Senior Clerks 2-6 Feb 2015 Induction level Training Programme for newly recruited Senior Executive/Legislative Assistant and Junior Clerks. 6. Shri Pradeep Singh, Junior Clerk -do- -do- Resigned w.e.f