All standing committees in limbo; Cong culprit
Parliament's 49 standing committees and eight ad hoc committees have come to a standstill because the Congress has not recommended names of its MPs for induction. These committees are constituted every year before July 31, but Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari are helpless to constitute them for want of the Congress list.
Enquiries in the Congress parliamentary office showed that the party leadership has put on hold the list because of the impending reshuffle of the union ministry since anyone becoming the minister cannot be a member of any parliamentary committee.
There are 16 departmental standing committees constituted by the Speaker and eight by the Rajya Sabha chairman, while there are 17 other standing committees and eight ad hoc committees.
The annual reconstitution of the three financial committees -- Public Accounts Committee, Estimates Committee and Public Undertaking Committee -- was, however, completed by the Speaker in the month of May.
The Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman are worried that a host of legislations and other work assigned to the standing committees will get delayed because they remained unconstituted so far. A Constitution Bill for reservation to SCs/STs in promotion in the government services that was introduced by the Government in the Rajya Sabha to satisfy BSP supremo Mayawati was referred to the Select Committee, but it remains stuck since this committee is also yet to be constituted.
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