37. TABLE OFFICE

37.1. Main Responsibilities: Table Office is primarily concerned with the day-to-day business of the House. The main subjects dealt with in the Section during the year 2013 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 . 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. Roll of Members. 15. Resignation by Members, vacation of seats and filling up of casual vacancies. 16. Disqualification of Member under the Prevention of Corruption Act,1988 17. Expulsion of Members 18. Withdrawal of Members 19. Obituary references 20. References by the Chair on important national and international events. 21. Felicitations by the Chair 22. 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. 23. Issue of Membership Certificate to the ex-Members to enable them to avail pension, CGHS facility, etc. 24. Biennial/Bye-elections to the Rajya Sabha. 25. Issue of congratulatory letters to the newly elected/ re-elected Members. 26. Good wishes to retiring Members 27. Announcements by the Chairman 28. Reconstitution of Panel of Vice-Chairmen, Rajya Sabha. 29. Preparation and issue of the publication entitled “Resume' of the Business transacted by the Rajya Sabha” after each of its Session. 30. Maintenance of Minutes Book of the Proceedings of the House. 31. Maintenance of Roll of Members and Member’s Index Cards. 32. Maintenance of Register of Obituary References/References made in the House. 33. 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, 1985. 34. Maintenance/updation of Precedents Register and updation of the Precedents Management System on the Rajya Sabha Website. 35. Data feeding of Members/ex-Members’ information in MIS Software. 36. Preparation of Statements showing the "Statistical Information" and "Highlights of the work - At a Glance" transacted during each Session. 37. Preparation of various Statistical statements from 1952 onwards for inclusion in the proposed publication entitled “Rajya Sabha – Statistical information” 38. Newsletter from the Secretary-General, Rajya 39. Digitization of old records/files 40. Updation of Chapters pertaining to the Section for the publication entitled “Rajya Sabha at Work” 41. Cases dealt with under the Right to Information Act, 2005.

237 42. Absence of Ministers during Session of Rajya Sabha 43. Updation of information related to Table Office on the Rajya Sabha Website. 44. Review and Weeding out of old files/records including Presidential/Vice-Presidential Elections and ‘Memorandum of Business’ folders. 45. Updation of information concerning Members of Rajya Sabha through “Officers/Section Login” system.

37.2. Sessions of the Rajya Sabha: There were three Sessions of the Rajya Sabha during the year 2013 i.e., 228th , 229th and 230 th (Part-I) Session. Details regarding duration, etc. of these are given below:—

Session Date of Date of Total No. of days with late Actual hours Commencement termination No. of sittings of sitting Sittings (excluding lunch break) Hrs. Mts. Days Hrs. Mts. 228th 21.02.2013 08.05.2013 32 10 13 — 26 82 — 58 229th 05.08.2013 07.09.2013 21 14 30 — 32 99 — 14 230 th 05.12.2013 18.12.2013 10 01 01 — 01 11 — 27 (Part-I)

37.3. Obituary References : 34 Obituary References [16 in 228th and 9 each in 229th and 230 th (Part-I) Session] in respect of the sitting/ex-Members of Rajya Sabha and important national and inter-national personalities were prepared and made in the House.

37.4. References by the Chairman: 36 References [16 in 228th , 9 in 229th and 11 in 230 th (Part-I) Session] on different subjects were prepared and made in the House.

37.5. Felicitations by the Chair: The Chair offered felicitations to Indian sportspersons for winning various International Championships/Trophies in different fields of sports activities during the 229 th Session. The Chair also offered felicitations to Shri Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Nominated Member on being conferred the Bharat Ratna during the first part of the 230 th Session.

37.6. Retirement of Members: In accordance with the provisions of clause (1) of article 83 of the Constitution, 9 Members (Assam-2, Tamil Nadu-6 and Nominated-1) of the Rajya Sabha retired on the completion of their term of office during the year 2013. Parliamentary Bulletins Part-II showing the names of Members of Rajya Sabha retiring on the expiration of their term of office during the year were issued on the 4th March and 29 th April, 2013 for information of Members.

37.7. 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 were reproduced in Parliamentary Bulletin Part-II for information of Members. In the biennial elections held during the year 2013, 8 Members (Assam-2 and Tamil Nadu-6) 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 Register.

37.8. Bye-elections to the Rajya Sabha: 6 Members namely, Shrimati Rajani Patil (Maharashtra), Shri K. C. Tyagi (Bihar), Shrimati Wansuk Syiem (Meghalaya), Shri B. K. Hariprasad (Karnataka), Shri Pramod Tiwari and Shrimati Kanak Lata Singh () 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 Register.

238 37.9. 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.

37.10. Vacation of Seats: 1. Death: One seat became vacant due to the demise of a sitting Member, namely, Shri Mohan Singh (Uttar Pradesh) and entry relating thereto was made in the register. A copy of the Notification was also sent to the Election Commission of India for necessary action. 2. Resignation: Five seats became vacant due to resignation by Members, namely , Shri Upendra Kushwaha (Bihar), Shri Thomas Sangma (Meghalaya), Shri Anil H. Lad (Karnataka), Shri Nandamuri Harikrishna (Andhra Pradesh) and Shrimati Maya Singh (Madhya Pradesh) and necessary entries relating thereto were made in the register. A copy each of the Notifications were also sent to the Election Commission of India for necessary action. 3. Disqualification: Consequent upon his conviction under section 120B read with sections 420 and 468 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) and sub-section (2) of section 13 read with clause (d) of sub-section (1) of section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (49 of 1988) by the Special Judge, CBI-03 (PC Act), Tis Hazari, Delhi, Shri , Member representing the State of Uttar Pradesh was disqualified for being a Member of the Rajya Sabha from the date of his conviction i.e., 19 th September, 2013 and accordingly, his seat became vacant in the Rajya Sabha from that date, in terms of the Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) read with sub-clause (e) of clause (1) of article 102 of the Constitution. Necessary entry in this regard was made in the register and a copy of Notification was also sent to the Election Commission of India for necessary action.

37.11. Expulsion of Members: Shri Pyarimohan Mohapatra and Shri Ram Jethmalani, Members belonging to Biju Janata Dal and respectively in the Rajya Sabha were expelled from their respective parties and shown as ‘Members without party-affiliation’ under the category ‘Independents and Others’ in the records.

37.12. Withdrawal of Members: The Chair, under rule 255 directed Shri Y. S. Chowdary and Shri C. M. Ramesh, Members, who entered the 'Well' of the House and wilfully obstructed the proceedings while protesting against the reported formation of the State of Telangana, to withdraw from the House, on 26 th & 27 th August and 2 nd September, 2013 and thereafter, both the Members withdrew from the House on those days.

37.13. Panel of Vice-Chairmen: The Chairman, Rajya Sabha reconstituted the Panel of Vice- Chairmen on 25 th July, 2013 comprising the following Members:-

1. Shri Shanta Kumar 2. Shri Prasanta Chatterjee 3. Dr. Mahendra Prasad 4. Smt. Renuka Chowdhury 5. Shri Bhubaneswar Kalita 6. Shri Devender Goud T.

The Members were informed of their nominations and a para regarding reconstitution was published in Part-II Bulletin dated 25th July, 2013. The announcement regarding reconstitution of Panel of Vice-Chairmen was made by the Deputy Chairman on 5th August, 2013 in the Rajya Sabha.

239 37.14. List of Business: 196 Lists of Business, Papers to be Laid on the Table etc. as detailed below were issued in connection with the Sessions of the Rajya Sabha during the year:-

Session Papers to be Laid Main List of Revised List of Supplementary List of on the Table Business Business Business

228th 30 34 24 11 229th 18 22 15 12 230 th 09 12 07 02 (Part-I)

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. 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 e-mail along with hard copy of the final CRCs.

37.15. Meetings of the Business Advisory Committee: 14 meetings of the Business Advisory Committee [5 in 228th , 7 in 229th and 2 in 230 th (Part-I) Session] were held to allocate time for Government Legislative and other Business. A new format of the Agenda to be printed on a pink paper along with 2 Statements one showing the Status and Time Allotted for Bills during current Session and another showing Time Allotment in respect of pending Bills during the preceding Sessions was also devised for use in the meetings of the Business Advisory Committee w.e.f. 230 th Session. The House was informed by the Presiding Officer about the allocation of time recommended by the Committee. Minutes of the meetings of the Business Advisory Committee were prepared, got approved and circulated.

37.16. Papers Laid on the Table: 4383 papers were laid on the Table of the House during the year [2041 in 228th , 1356 in 229th and 986 in 230 th (Part-I) Session]. All these papers except Notifications were received and processed by this Section.

37.17. Statements by Ministers: 95 Statements [35 in 228th , 38 in 229th and 22 in 230 th (Part-I) Session] and 9 Statements regarding Government Business [5 in 228 th , 3 in 229 th and 1 in 230 th (Part-I) Session] were made/laid in the House by Ministers during the year 2013.

37.18. Memorandum of Business: Memorandum of Business were prepared for 63 sittings [32 in 228th , 21 in 229th and 10 in 230 th (Part-I) Session] for use of Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Secretary-General and other Officers at the Table.

37.19. Preparation of various Statistical Statements from 1952 onwards: 17 statistical statements containing the data on various Session related work done by the Section from 1952 to 2013 were compiled (year-wise) and forwarded to Committee Co-ordination Section for inclusion in the proposed publication entitled “Rajya Sabha – Statistical Information ”.

37.20. Updation of Chapters/portions of Chapters on the publication entitled “Rajya Sabha at Work”: The manuscripts of the Chapters 3,4,5,10,12,13,15,16,25,26 and some portions of other Chapters of the publication entitled “Rajya Sabha at Work” were corrected and updated by incorporating the relevant changes during the period from 2006 to 2013 therein and duly approved manuscripts of these Chapters were forwarded to LARRDIS (Publications and Who’s Who Unit) for inclusion in the revised edition.

37.21. 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.

240 37.22. Digitization of old records/files : Old files/records pertaining to the following subjects and some registers/folders of the Section were identified, made them ready for scanning (by counting of total number of files and registers, their pagination with its size, removing their staple/pin/flag etc.) and got them digitized from O&M Section in a phased manner :-

1. Presidential/Vice-Presidential Elections 2. Election of Deputy Chairman 3. Telecasting of proceedings of Rajya Sabha 4. Files relating to Anti-Defection Cases 5. Recognition of the Leader of House/Leader of the Opposition 6. Vacation of seats by Members including their expulsion/suspension

37.23. Cases under the Right to Information Act, 2005: During the year under review, 93 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).

37.24. 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 concluding 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 Media Education and Audio Visual Unit for distribution to the Press and Media persons. The statements were also uploaded on the Website.

37.25. Membership Certificate: 19 Membership Certificates were issued in favour of Ex-Members of the Rajya Sabha to enable them to avail pension, CGHS facilities, etc.

37.26. Parliamentary Bulletins: Rajya Sabha Parliamentary Bulletin Part-I Nos. 5039 to 5101 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. 50465 to 51572 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 e-mail along with hard copy of the final CRCs.

37.27. Division: During the year under review, 27 divisions [26 in 229th Session and 1 in 230 th (Part-I) Session] were held in the Rajya Sabha.

The ‘Division Slip’ used during failure of Electronic Voting System was modified and made bilingual and the new coloured Division Slips are now used during voting in the Rajya Sabha. A new format for ‘Inclusion of name in the List of Speakers’ (in English and Hindi) indicating the intention of a Member wishing to participate in any discussion/seeking clarifications, etc. in the Rajya Sabha was also devised.

37.28. Absence of Ministers during Session of Rajya Sabha : Statement showing the Minister- wise details of requests received for deputing some other Minister to attend to the business of the concerned Minister during his/her absence from the House during each Session of Rajya Sabha held in the year 2013 was prepared for information and record.

37.29. Resume of the Business Transacted by the Rajya Sabha: Resume of the Business transacted by the Rajya Sabha during the 228th and 229th Sessions were prepared, got printed and circulated amongst the Members of the Rajya Sabha, Public Libraries, Lok Sabha Secretariat and

241 Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. The final CRC versions of the Resume were also uploaded on the Website. The manuscript of the publication for the 230 th Session will be prepared and finalized after prorogation of the Session.

37.30. List of Members: Manuscript of the publication entitled “ List of Members, Rajya Sabha” (January 10, 2013 edition ) pertaining to the year 2012, which could not be finalized in that year was got approved, printed and circulated to all Members of the Rajya Sabha and Officers and Sections of the Secretariat. After completion of the biennial elections in the year 2013, the next edition of the publication entitled “ List of Members, Rajya Sabha” (September 10, 2013 edition) showing permanent and Delhi addresses and telephone numbers, etc. of Members, required to be brought out in the year 2013 was got approved, printed and circulated to all Members of the Rajya Sabha and Officers and Sections of the Secretariat.

37.31. Other Lists: During the year, following Lists were prepared as indicated against each:-

Party-Position in the Rajya Sabha — 26 Alphabetical List of Members — 20 Division List — 03 Attendance Register — 03

The Section also prepared printed coloured Seating Arrangement Charts for use of Hon’ble Chairman, Secretary-General and others, prior to commencement of each Session.

37.32. 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.

37.33. Review and Weeding out of old files/records : The old files and records except files relating to “Scrutiny of Nomination Papers” of the Presidential Elections for the years 1957, 1967, 1974, 1982 and 1992 and to the Vice Presidential Elections for the years 1962, 1969, 1979 and 1987, having no retention value were destroyed after approval.

The old session folders containing ‘Memorandum of Business’ pertaining to the period from 1991 to 1995 were reviewed. The contents/pages containing some procedural text on parliamentary practice and procedure were kept separately in the Guard File and rests of the folders were also destroyed after approval.

The old files pertaining to the year 2005 were reviewed and the files having no retention value, were weeded out after approval.

37.34. Updation of information concerning Members of Rajya Sabha through “Officers/Section Login” system : Information regarding permanent/local address and telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, etc. of Members received on-line through new software “Officers/Section Login” was updated regularly.

37.35. SMS Utility : The new software introduced by NIC was utilized by the Section for sending SMS alert to Members regarding meetings of the Business Advisory Committee and meeting of Leaders of various parties/groups with Chairman, Rajya Sabha.

37.36. Status of Computerization: Table Office has been fully computerized and working efficiently since 1998. 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 e-mail . 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.

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37.37. Updation of Rajya Sabha Website: This Section is responsible for updation of the following information on the Rajya Sabha Website:-

1. Lists of Business 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. Presiding Officers of Rajya Sabha 9. General Information for Members 10. Officers/Section Login - Updation of information concerning Members of Rajya Sabha received on-line 11. Disqualification of Members on Ground of Defection 12. Valedictory Address and Statistical Information

All data were regularly and promptly updated on the website including Circulars issued by the Section.

37.38. 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.

37.39. Inspection Report: The inspection of the Section for the year 2012 was done by Shri Rakesh Prasad, Joint Director, on the 8th February, 2013. The inspection of the work transacted in Hindi in the Section was also done by Shri Upkar Verma, Translator on the 1st April, 2013.

37.40. Training : During the year, the following Officials of the Section attended various training programmes organised by the Training Unit as detailed below:-

Sr. No. Name and Designation Programme

1. Shri Romeo Vincent Tete Office Procedure Legislative Officer 2. Shri Anil Kumar Bhatia, One day workshop on E-Filing of Legislative Officer Income Tax Return conducted by Estt. (Accounts & Budget) Section 3. Shri Suman Dutta • “Praveen” a training in Hindi conducted Senior Legislative Assistant by the Central Hindi Training Institute, New Delhi. • Workshop on “Effective Noting and Drafting” conducted by ISTM 4. Shri Pramod Singh Rawat • “Pragya” a training in Hindi conducted Senior Clerk by the Central Hindi Training Institute, New Delhi. • Office Procedure

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Dr. Manmohan Singh and Shri Santiuse Kujur with the Hon'ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha and Smt. Sonia Gandhi, after taking Oath in the Chairman's Chamber on the 17 th of June, 2013.

Dr. Manmohan Singh re-elected from the State of Assam signing 'Roll of Members' after taking Oath in the Chairman's Chamber on the 17 th of June, 2013.