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Home , Rajya Sabha

50. COMMITTEE COORDINATION SECTION

50.1. Main Functions: - This Section mainly deals with the work enumerated below: -

(i) Constitution of Standing Committees of Rajya Sabha and Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committees including filling of casual vacancies therein and other Committees on which Members of Rajya Sabha are represented; (ii) Constitution of and Election/Nomination of Members of Rajya Sabha to the Joint Parliamentary Committees; (iii) Constitution of Parliamentary Fora on various subjects; (iv) Processing of notices of Motions received from Ministers for election of Members of Rajya Sabha to various statutory bodies within their purview and the requests for nomination of Members on such Bodies, wherever this is provided for, by the Hon’ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha as received from the Ministries concerned; (v) Dealing with requests received from various State Governments/Ministries/Departments of Central Government seeking approval of Hon’ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha to the nomination of Members of Rajya Sabha on various Committees/Boards constituted by them; (vi) Reference of cases involving questions of holding of Offices of Profit by the Members to the Joint Committee on Offices of Profit; (vii) Compilation, printing and distribution of the booklets titled ‘Committees of Rajya Sabha and other Parliamentary Committees and Bodies on which Rajya Sabha is represented’, ‘Rajya Sabha Committee Membership’ and ‘Rajya Sabha Committees-A Profile’; (viii) Laying of Reports of the Joint Committees received from the Secretariat on the Table of the House; (ix) Monitoring of Committee Software, redressal of complaints and updating Committee membership details; (x) Implementation and Monitoring of MIS Software regarding election/nomination of Members to the statutory and other bodies on which Members of Rajya Sabha are represented; (xi) Allotment of Committee Rooms; (xii) Committee Coordination; (xiii) Updation of Mailing List; (xiv) Amendments to the Third Schedule of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States; (xv) Guidelines relating to Study Tours of Parliamentary Committees; (xvi) Directions by Hon'ble Chairman regarding Statements by Ministers in the House on the status of implementation of recommendations contained in the Reports of Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committees; and (xvii) Other Miscellaneous matters: Apart from the items of work specifically allotted to this Section, the following issues were also examined:- a) suggestions from Shri Jana Krishnamurthy K., Member, Rajya Sabha regarding reforms in the functioning of Rajya Sabha; b) status of examination of Demands for Grants (2006-2007) by DRSCs in view of the re-scheduling of first part of 207th Session of the House; c) entitlement for/ceiling on expenditure incurred on refreshments/lunch served by the Office(s) of Chairmen of Parliamentary Committees; and d) notification of Subjects selected by the DRSCs (Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha) in the Parliamentary Bulletin Part-II.

50.2. Election/Nomination of Members to Statutory Bodies/Joint Parliamentary Committees: The cases relating to election/nomination of Members of the Rajya Sabha to the various Statutory Bodies/Joint Parliamentary Committees were dealt with by this Section. A total of 25 Election and 19 Nomination cases relating to various Bodies were handled during the year. Besides, notices of Motions for election/requests for nominations of Members of Rajya Sabha to the following Joint Parliamentary Committees/Parliamentary Fora were processed and the specified number of Members got elected/nominated thereto: (i) Committee on Public Accounts (ii) Committee on Public Undertakings (iii) Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (iv) Joint Parliamentary Committee on Offices of Profit (v) Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of (vi) Committee on Empowerment of Women (vii) Library Committee (viii) Railway Convention Committee (ix) Committee on Food Management in Parliament House Complex (x) Joint Parliamentary Committee on Installation of Portraits/Statues of National Leaders and Parliamentarians in the Parliament House Complex (xi) Ad-hoc Joint Committee to examine the constitutional and legal position relating to (xii) Joint Parliamentary Committee on Wakf (xiii) Parliamentary Forum on Water Conservation and Management (xiv) Parliamentary Forum on Youth (xv) Parliamentary Forum on Children (xvi) Parliamentary Forum on Population and Public Health In addition, the proposals received from the regarding extension of the tenure of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Security matters in Parliament House Complex and the Committee on Food Management in Parliament House Complex were also processed by the Section and the tenure of these two Committees was extended for one year each. The election work involved scrutiny of Motions for election and their admissibility; preparation of items for List of Business; preparation and publication of programme of election after the motions were finally adopted by the House; scrutiny of nomination papers; holding of elections when necessary and publication of election results in Rajya Sabha Parliamentary Bulletin Part-II. In the case of nominations, orders of the Hon'ble Chairman were solicited. Nominations made by the Hon'ble Chairman were also published in Parliamentary Bulletin Part-II. The work, both in election and nomination cases, included sending of intimation about the elected/nominated Members to the Ministries and the Members concerned. Messages, wherever necessary, with respect to election of Rajya Sabha Members to Joint Committees were also sent to the Lok Sabha.

50.3. Constitution of Standing Committees/Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committees:

(a) In view of the one year tenure of the following Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committees due to expire on August 4, 2006, action for their re- constitution and nomination of Members of Rajya Sabha thereto was initiated and the Committees were reconstituted w.e.f. 5th August, 2006:- 1. Committee on Commerce 2. Committee on Home Affairs 3. Committee on Human Resource Development 4. Committee on Industry 5. Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests 6. Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture 7. Committee on Health and Family Welfare 8. Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice 9. Committee on Agriculture 10. Committee on Defence 11. Committee on Energy 12. Committee on External Affairs 13. Committee on Finance 14. Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution 15. Committee on Information Technology 16. Committee on Labour and Welfare 17. Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas 18. Committee on Railways 19. Committee on Urban Development 20. Committee on Water Resources 21. Committee on Chemicals And Fertilizers 22. Committee on Rural Development 23. Committee on Coal and Steel 24. Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment

(b) The process for re-constitution of the following Standing Committees of Rajya Sabha was also initiated and the Committees were re-constituted w.e.f. the dates shown against them:-

1. Committee on Subordinate Legislation 2. Committee on Petitions

3. Committee on Government Assurances 4. Committee on Papers Laid on the Table re- constituted w.e.f. 4th September, 2006 5. House Committee 6. Committee of Privileges 7. Business Advisory Committee 8. Committee on Rules 9. Purposes Committee re- constituted w.e.f. 4th October, 2006 The cases for re-constitution of these Committees were processed by the Section and the proposals for nominations of Rajya Sabha Members submitted for consideration/approval of the Hon’ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha. The Section also had necessary correspondence on the subject with the Lok Sabha Secretariat and the concerned Sections of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat. Necessary Part-II Bulletins in this regard were also issued by the Section.

50.4. Approval to the nomination of Members of Rajya Sabha to various Committees/Bodies of Central and State Governments: Requests from various Central Government Agencies and State Governments seeking approval of Hon'ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha to the nomination of Members of Rajya Sabha to various Committees/Bodies received during the year 2006 were examined and processed in the Section in accordance with the provisions contained in the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959 and, wherever considered necessary, references were made for consideration of the Joint Committee on Offices of Profit (JCOP). The cases were thereafter, placed before the Hon'ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha for his consideration/orders. During the year 2006, the requests seeking approval of the Hon'ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha to the nomination of Members to the following bodies were processed in the Section:-

1. Planning Board of NCT of . 2. State Education Mission, . 3. Rajasthan Haj Committee (Rajasthan). 4. Expert Committee for Planned Development of Bruhat-Bangalore Mahanagarapalke, Bangalore. 5. State Level Planning Board, Government of . 6. Securities Trading Corporation of Limited, Mumbai. 7. Space Commission. 8. Board of Governors, NITIE, Mumbai. 9. Honorary Advisor in the DOS/ISRO.

The approval of the Hon’ble Chairman to the nomination of Members to the Bodies indicated at 1 to 5 above was communicated to the respective Departments of the State Governments. As regards the bodies at 6 to 9, action was pending in view of the matters being under consideration of the Joint Committee on Offices of Profit.

50.5. Compilation, Printing and distribution of booklets/pamphlets: During the year 2006, the publications ‘Rajya Sabha Committee Membership’, ‘Committees of Rajya Sabha and Other Parliamentary Committees and Bodies in which Rajya Sabha is represented (2005-2006)’ and ‘Rajya Sabha Committees - A Profile (2005)’ were published and distributed to the Members and others concerned.

The publications ‘Rajya Sabha Committee Membership’ and ‘Committees of Rajya Sabha and Other Parliamentary Committees and Bodies in which Rajya Sabha is represented (2006-2007)’ were also compiled and sent for Printing.

50.6. Laying of Reports: During the year under review the Section also handled the work of laying of Reports/Statements of various Committees received from the Lok Sabha Secretariat on the Table of the House. A total of 209 such Reports/Statements were laid on the Table of Rajya Sabha.

50.7. Status of Computerisation: This Section has been provided with six Pentium IV based P.Cs. which are being extensively used for typing notes and other miscellaneous items of work of this Section. The Computers are also used for sending e-mails and monitoring, implementation and maintenance of Committee Software; and MIS Software regarding Elections/Nominations of Members to the Statutory and other Bodies on which Members of Rajya Sabha are represented.

50.8. Committee Software: This Section has been entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing/monitoring of implementation of Committee software. The Software inter alia contains details of Notices issued for meetings of Committees, Study Tours undertaken by the Committees, names/designations of officers accompanying the Committees during such visits, liaison officers designated to co-ordinate these visits and membership of Committees. Due to some technical snags and recurring operational problems, this software was removed from the website of Rajya Sabha sometime around August-September, 2004. After a lot of efforts by a programmer from NICSI deputed for solving/removing the problems plaguing the Software, coupled with several Training-cum-Problem solving sessions involving staff of Committee Sections and the NIC officials, organized by this Section, the Software was operationalised w.e.f. 1st April, 2006. The composition of current Committees (DRSCs and Standing Committees) and status of Committee Room Booking, entries of which are being made by this Section, has been updated and is reflected on the Rajya Sabha Website. Efforts are also on to standardize the format of Notices of Committee Meetings, so as to enable the software to generate the same automatically. A meeting was also held on 20th December, 2006 with all the Officers-in-Charge and staff of the Committee Sections to review the working of the Software in which it was impressed upon them to update the data therein on day to day basis.

50.9. MIS Software: Apart from the Committee Software, this Section is also entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining the MIS Software regarding elections/nominations of Members of Rajya Sabha to different Statutory and other Bodies. The Software inter-alia contains details of the names and term of membership of Members of Rajya Sabha represented on various Statutory and other Bodies. The MIS Software had developed some technical snags in the past but after the efforts of this Section it was put back on track and the output generated by this Software is showing updated position on the Rajya Sabha Website. 50.10. Training: Shri Anurag Saini, Committee Assistant attended a training programme on “Office Procedure” from 23rd to 31st January, 2006 which was organized by the Training Unit, Rajya Sabha Secretariat. Shri R.K. Mecolt Singh, Sr. Committee Assistant attended a ‘Customized Training Programme on Computer’ from 6th to 13th February, 2006 organized by the Training Unit, Rajya Sabha Secretariat in collaboration with NIC.

50.11. Analysis: The details of the activities undertaken by the Section in the year, 2006, have been enumerated above. The Action Plan 2006 set goals for completion of work of election/nomination to different Committees/Statutory Bodies in order to fill up vacancies in time and for re-constitution of Standing/Department-related Committees. These goals were, to a great extent, achieved with success. The Secretary-General reviewed the Action Plan of the Section in a meeting held with the J.S., Director/Under Secretary in charge of the Section on the 15th November, 2006 and was satisfied with the progress of its implementation. In the review meeting, it was inter alia observed by the Secretary-General that —

1. File with regard to filling up of a vacancy in the Committee on Defence caused by the death of Shri Lalit Suri, a sitting Member may be put up as early as possible;

2. A meeting of Officers of the various Committees may be convened by JS(C) with a view to ensuring accuracy of information contained in the publications ‘Rajya Sabha Committee Membership’ and ‘Rajya Sabha Committees – A Profile’.

Prompt action on both these observations of the Secretary-General was taken by the Section.