A week before fourth phase of COVID-19 Lockdown ends on May 31, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu reviewed the preparedness of the secretariats of both Houses of Parliament on Monday by holding a meeting with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, officials of both Houses , Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and MoS Arjunram Meghwal.
The 37 members who were part of the meeting were recently elected unopposed to the Upper House but their oath-taking remains pending. Naidu spoke to Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, in this regard.
Sources in the Rajya Sabha Secratariat told News 18 that post May 31, members may be called in small batches to the chamber of the Vice President and sworn-in. With social distancing now made mandatory and a ban on large gatherings, the MP families will not be allowed to join the new members for the swearing-in ceremony.
Naidu also spoke to the the Election Commission of India about polls for 18 more vacancies in seven states which were deferred after the COVID-19 outbreak.
A lot of members, especially from the Opposition bench, including Adhir Chowdhury, Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor, had requested for Standing Committee meetings to be held via video conference. The matter has also been under consideration of the custodians of both Houses, considering both Rail and Air services have now opened across the country.
During the meeting, nine rooms were identified for meetings of 24 Department Related Standing Committee (DRSC) and 6 for other Committee meetings of both Houses.
In the meeting, Naidu and Om Birla asked officials to ensure effective measures of social distancing and also said that the number of officials from both Secretariats as well as concerned Ministry who attend these meetings should be bare minimum.
A detailed meeting schedule for these meetings will drawn up soon.
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