14. COMMITTEE SECTION (PPG)

Transcription

1 14. COMMITTEE SECTION (PPG) Main Functions of the Section:- This Section provides secretarial assistance to the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, which is one of the eight Standing Committees being serviced by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat. The Ministries of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Law and Justice come under the purview of the Committee s scrutiny. This Section assists the Committee in disposing its mandated functions as enshrined in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Rajya Sabha. For that purpose, the Committee Section (PPG) is provided with one Assistant Director, one Sr. Committee Assistant, one Research Assistant and one Senior Clerk. The work of Section is supervised by one Joint Director, a Director and the Additional Secretary Constitution of the Committee:- The tenure of the Committee ( ) came to an end on the 19 th April, 2014 consequent upon the dissolution of the 15 th Lok Sabha. Subsequently the Committee ( ) was re-constituted on the 1 st September, The total strength of the Committee is 31, consisting of 10 Rajya Sabha Members including Chairman of the Committee and 21 Lok Sabha Members Consideration of Demands for Grants:- The Demands for Grants ( ) of the Ministries of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions and Law & Justice were not examined in view of dissolution of the Lok Sabha Consideration of Government Bills:- The following Government Bills were referred, under the established procedure, to the Committee for examination and report during 2014:- (i) The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013; (ii) The Assam Legislative Council Bill, 2013; (iii) The Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2014; (iv) The Tribunals, Appellate Tribunals and Other Authorities (Conditions of Service) Bill, 2014; (v) The Repealing and Amending Bill, 2014; and (vi) The Lokpal and Lokayuktas and other related law (Amendment) Bill, The preparatory work pertaining to the Bills mentioned at (i) to (vi) above was done by the Section at each stage during the course of consideration of the Bills. Reports on the Bills mentioned at (i) to (iii) and (v) were drafted in the Section and then adopted by the Committee. These reports were presented/laid in both the Houses of Parliament during the year. However, deliberation on the Bills mentioned at (v) and (vi) above could not be completed during the year and Reports thereon could not be presented to the House by the end of Consideration of Subjects:- :- The following subjects were taken up for examination and report by the Committee during the year 2014 :- S. No. Subject (s) Taken 1. The Infrastructure Development and Strengthening of Subordinate Courts 2. Action Taken Replies of the Government on the recommendations/observations contained in the 60 th Report on Demands for Grants ( ) of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions 3. Action Taken Replies of the Government on the Recommendations/Observations Contained in the 58 th Report on Demands for Grants ( ) of the Ministry of Law and Justice 4. Status of implementation of Citizen's Charters, Public Grievance Redressal Mechanism, RTI Act and Government s policy of reservation in Organisations of the Central Government 5. Synergy between Tribal Justice System and Regular Justice System in the Country The Section prepared the draft Reports on the subjects listed at Sr. Nos. 1 to 3 above. After 92

2 its adoption by the Committee, the Reports were presented/laid in both the House of Parliament in the year The Committee is currently deliberating upon the remaining subjects. The Section provided all the assistance, preparatory and other works pertaining to the subjects including liaisons with different Ministries and concerned agencies Study Tours/Visits:- The Committee undertook following two study-visits and one local visit during the year 2014:- (1) 21 st to 24 th January, 2014 to Kolkata and Guwahati for in-depth study of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013, The Assam Legislative Council Bill, 2013 and Effectiveness of vigilance administration in Central Government, Ministries, Corporations, Societies, Public Sector Enterprises etc. (2) 31 st October to 6 th November, 2014 to Shillong, Guwahati and Kolkata for in-depth study of The Tribunals, Appellate Tribunals and Other Authorities (Conditions of Service) Bill, 2014, Synergy between Tribal Justice System and Regular Justice System of the Country, and Status of implementation of Citizen's Charter, Public Grievance Redressal Mechanism, RTI Act and Government's policy of reservation in Organisations of Central Government. (3) 28 th October, 2014 to local visit District Court Complexes at Saket and Patiala House for on-the-spot assessment of infrastructure and functioning of District Courts in Delhi in connection with examination of the Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill, The Section arranged the above mentioned visits of the Committee. It liaised with the concerned Ministries/organisations, arranged the meeting, accommodation, transport facilities for Members at the places outside Delhi Meetings:- The Section arranged and assisted the Committee to hold twenty-eight sittings spanning 45 hours and 13 minutes in all, during the year The details are as follows:- Sr. No. Date Duration Hrs.-Mts. Main Items or Agenda I. Hear the views of Central Vigilance Commissioner, Director, Central Bureau of Investigation and Director, Enforcement Directorate on the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013; and II. Consider and adopt the following draft Reports on- (a) Infrastructure Development and Strengthening of Subordinate Courts; and (b) ATR of Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions on Sixtieth Report of the Committee on Demands for Grants ( ) of that Ministry I. Oral evidence of stakeholders on the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013:- 1) Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, foundation for Democratice Reforms (FDR) & Lok Satta, Hyderabad; 2) Dr. Arun Gupta, MD, FIAP, Coordinator, Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India; Member, Prime Ministers' Council on India's Nutrition Challenge; Convener, Alliance against Conflict of Interests (AACI); 3) Er. Amar Singh, President, Society for Justice (Regd), Patiala, Punjab; 4) Shri Gurdip Singh, President, Residents & Shopkeepers Welfare Society (Regd.), Krishna Market, Pahar Ganj, New Delhi; and 5) Shri Rajinder Kumar Goyal, Distt. Kapurthala, Punjab. II. Presentation of Secretary, Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice on the Assam Legislative Council Bill,

3 To consider and adopt its draft Sixty-ninth Report on the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, Consider and adopt the following draft Reports:- I. Draft Seventieth Report on the Assam Legislative Council Bill, 2013; and II. Draft Seventy-first Report of the Action Taken Replies of the Government on the recommendations/ observations contained in its Fifty-eighth Report on Demands for Grants ( ) of the Ministry of Law and Justice Hear the views of Secretary, Department of Justice on the Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2014 and the Tribunals, Appellate Tribunals and other Authorities (Conditions of Service) Bill, * Hear the views of representatives of Department of Personnel & Training ( Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions) and Ministry of Environment & Forest on the Tribunals, Appellate Tribunals and other Authorities ( Conditions of Service) Bill, I. Presentation of Secretary, Department of Personnel & Training, Ministry of Personnel & Public Grievances alongwith Secretary of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on the mandate, structure and functioning of their respective Department/Organization; and II. Presentation by the Secretary, Department of Pensions & Pensioner's Welfare and Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DAR&PG), Ministry of Personnel & Public Grievances on the mandate, structure and functioning of the Departments under his charge I. Presentation of Secretary, Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice on the mandate, scope and functioning of the Department and the bodies within its administrative control; II. Presentation of Secretary, Department of Justice on the following Bills:- (a) The Tribunals, Appellate Tribunals and Other Authorities (Conditions of Service) Bill, 2014; and (b) The Delhi High Courts (Amendment) Bill, III. Presentation of Secretary, Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice on the mandate, scope and functioning of the Department and the bodies within its administrative control; IV. Presentation of Election Commission of India on the mandate, scope and functioning of the Commission; and V. Presentation of Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Law and Justice on the mandate, scope and functioning of the Department and the bodies within its administrative control Hear the views of Secretary, Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice on the Tribunals, Appellate Tribunals and other Authorities (Conditions of Service) Bill, I. Hear the views of the Secretary, Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice on the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2014; and II. Oral evidence on the Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2014 of the following Bar Associations of District Courts in Delhi:- (a) Co-ordination Committee of all District Court Bar Associations of Delhi 1. Sh. Ved Prakash Sharma, Former Chairman, BCD 2. Sh. B.D. Kaushik, Former President of DBA 3. Sh. Deepak Khosla, Advocate 4. Sh. Ajay Swami, Advocate 94

4 5. Sh. Narender Kalra, Advocate 6. Sh. Sohan Sharma, Advocate (b) Delhi Bar Association, Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi 1. Sh. Sanjeev Nasiar, President 2. Sh. Divya Darshan Sharma, Hony. Secretary 3. Sh. Ajay Gaur, Sr. Vice-President 4. Sh. Vikas Manchanda, Vice-President (c) New Delhi Bar Association, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi 1. Sh. R.K. Wadhwa, President 2. Sh. Ranbir S. Kundu, Hony. Secretar 3. Sh. Shalendra, Vice-President (d) Shahdara Bar Association, Karkardooma Courts, Delhi. 1. Sh. Arun K. Sharma, President 2. Sh. Mahender Bhardwaj, Vice-Presid (e) Rohini Court Bar Association, Rohini, Delhi 1. Sh. Satnarain Sharma, Secretary 2. Sh. Ashok K. Drall, Vice-President (f) Dwarka Court Bar Association, Dwarka, New Delhi 1. Sh. Dinesh K. Mudgil, President 2. Sh. Rajender Singh, Vice-President 3. Shjri Rajendra Singh Sehrawat (g) Saket Court Bar Association, Saket, New Delhi 1. Sh. Vinod Sharma, President 2. Sh. Karnail Singh, Hony. Secretary I. Presentation of Secretaries of the Departments of Personnel &Training (DoPT) and Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DAR&PG), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions on the subject Status of implementation of Citizen's Charters, Public Grievance Redressal Mechanism, RTI Act and Government s policy of reservation in Organisations of the Central Government"; and II. Oral evidence on the Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2014 of the following Delhi High Court Bar Association:- 1. Shri Amarjit Singh Chandhoke, Senior Advocate and former Additional Solicitor General of India 2. Shri P.V. Kapur, Senior Advocate 3. Shri Rajiv Nayar Senior Advocate 4. Shri J.P. Sengh, Senior Advocate 5. Shri Arvind K. Nigam, Senior Advocate 6. Shri Sudhir Nandrajog, Senior Advocate 7. Shri Anish Dayal, Advocate 8. Shri Abhijat, Hony. Secretary, 9. Shri Sunil Mittal, Advocate, Member Executive 10. Ms. Meghna Mital Sankhla, Lady Executive Member, 11. Ms. Kaadambari Singh Puri, Executive Member, 12. Shri Rahul Srivastava, Advocate 13. Shri Ashutosh Lohia, Treasurer 14. Shri Rishabh Bansal, Advocate 15. Shri Isahwar Mohanty, Advocate 16. Shri Pankaj Kapoor, Executive Member 17. Shri Mayank Bamniyal, Advocate 18. Shri Honey Kolwar, Advocate 12. * Hear presentation of the Secretary, Department of Justice (M/o Law & Justice) on the subject "Synergy between Tribal Justice System and Regular Justice System in the Country" Oral evidence of the following non-official witnesses on the Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2014:- 1. Asian Patent Attrorneys Association, New Delhi (i) Shri Chander Lall; 95

5 (ii) Ms. Nancy Roy; and (iii) Ms. Namrita Kochhar. 2. Shri I.C. Kumar. Advocate, Delhi High Court 3. Shri Hansraj Jain, Social Activitsts 4. Shri Subash C. Agrawal, RTI Activist 5. Shri Rajiv Kakria, 6. Shri Chetan Sharma I. Hear the views of the Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs, Government of India on the legal issues involved in the Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2014; and II. Hear the views of the Secretary (Law), Government of Maharashtra and Advocate-General of Maharashtra on the provisions of the Bill vis-à-vis the pecuniary jurisdiction of High Court of Bombay and Bombay City Civil Courts and Bombay Court of Small Causes To consider and adopt the draft Seventy-second Report on the Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill, Hear the views of the Secretaries of Ministry of Agriculture (Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries), External Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution (Department of Food & Public Distribution) and Social Justice & Empowerment on the Acts relating to their Ministries proposed to be repealed by the Repealing & Amending Bill, Oral evidence of the following non-official witnesses on the Tribunals, Appellate Tribunals and Other Authorities (Conditions of Service) Bill, 2014:- 1. Shri K. Ashokan, Presiding Officer, Debt Recovery Tribunal- II,New Delhi; 2. Shri Ashish Kalia, Presiding Officer, Debt Recovery Tribunal- III, New Delhi; 3. Shri Sudhir Kumar, Former Member, CAT; and 4. PRS Legislative Research, New Delhi: (i) Shri M.R. Madhavan, President, (ii) Dr. Mandita Kala (iii) Ms. Prianka Rao To consider and adopt draft Seventy-third Report on the Repealing and Amending Bill, * Oral evidence of the Tribunals, Appellate Tribunals and other Authorities (Conditions of Service) Bill, 2014 of Chairman/Members of:- (i) Customs, Excise & Service Tax, Appellate Tribunal (ii) National Disputes Redressal Commission; (iii) National Green Tribunal; and (iv) Income Tax Appellate Tribunal * No quorum. However, record of discussion was maintained Reports:- The Section drafted six Reports of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice of the Rajya Sabha. Those reports were presented to Parliament. S.No Report No th The Infrastructure Development and Strengthening of Subordinate Courts Subject No. of Sittings Date of Presentation Presented to Rajya Sabha on and Laid on the th Action Taken Replies of the Presented to Rajya Sabha on 96

6 Government on the recommendations/observations contained in the 60 th Report on Demands for Grants ( ) of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions th The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, th The Assam Legislative Council Bill, st Action Taken Replies of the Government on the Recommendations/Observations Contained in the 58 th Report on Demands for Grants ( ) of the Ministry of Law and Justice nd The Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill, rd The Repealing and Amending Bill, and Laid on the Presented to Rajya Sabha on and Laid on the ,02,2014 Presented to Rajya Sabha on and Laid on the Presented to Rajya Sabha on and Laid on the Presented to Rajya Sabha on and Laid on the Presented to Rajya Sabha on and Laid on the Press-Conference of Chairmen of the Committees:- The Chairman of the Departmentrelated Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice held two Press Conferences during the year The Section arranged the Press Conferences in liaison with the Press and Media Unit of the Secretariat and also assisted the Chairmen to hold the Press Conferences Goals and Objectives:- This Section has reasons to believe that by providing secretarial assistance to the Committee in time and discharging its functions with the requisite zeal, the goals and objectives were achieved. The Section was, therefore, able to provide all the secretarial assistance to the Committee when it examined the Bills referred to it and took up the subjects for consideration Computerisation:- During the period reported, all the typing work, including the Committee Reports, were prepared on Windows based P.C. The Committee Software was also utilised by the Section for providing requisite information regarding meetings of the Committee. Members were informed of meetings and other urgent information through SMS using SMS utility. facility was also used to furnish agenda papers to Members and to correspondence with Ministries and non-official Witnesses Miscellaneous work:- In addition to work referred to above the Section also dealt with other miscellaneous work such as liaisoning with the concerned Sections i.e. Interpreters, Reporters, Parliament Security Service, Electrical and sound Department, Air-conditioner, Horticulture of CPWD and Ministries concerned during the meetings of the Committee. Settlement of refreshment bills on account of expenditure incurred during the Committee's meeting and tour related Bills were also undertaken by the Section. Other miscellaneous correspondence received in the Section were suitably disposed off. Newspaper clippings pertaining to the Committee were sent to officers and select clippings were sent to related Ministries/Departments for comments. The Section also makes 97

7 available the information on the RTI application pertaining to the section and ensures timely submission of replies. Circulation of printed Reports of 47 th, 54 th, 61 st, 62 nd,63 rd, 64 th, 65 th, 66 th, 67 th, 68 th, 69 th, 70 th and 71 st was done during Inspection:- Inspection of the Section was done on 13 th March, 2014 by Shri S.D. Nautiyal, the then Director (LARRDIS) who was satisfied with the functioning of the Section Processing of Public Grievances:- The Committee Section has been receiving a number of grievances from various quarters for redressal, although not within the mandate of the Committee. These grievances were, however, processed and forwarded to the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances/concerned Departments for appropriate action. During the period under review, the Committee Section processed 52 cases of public grievance Details of training to staff during 2014:- During 2014, the Assistant Director attended the Professional Development Programme in London, U.K. 98