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 2014 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 Rajya Sabha. 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. Resignation by Members, vacation of seats and filling up of casual vacancies. 15. Disqualification of Member under the Prevention of Corruption Act,1988 16. Withdrawal of Member 17. Obituary References 18. References by the Chair on important national and international events. 19. Felicitations by the Chair 20. 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. 21. Issue of Membership Certificates to the ex-Members to enable them to avail pension, CGHS facility, etc. 22. Biennial/Bye-elections/Nomination to the Rajya Sabha. 23. Issue of congratulatory letters to the newly elected/re-elected/Nominated Members. 24. Welcome to New Members and Good wishes to retiring Members 25. Announcements/Rulings/Observations by the Chairman 26. Reconstitution of Panel of Vice-Chairmen, Rajya Sabha. 27. Preparation and issue of the publication entitled “Resume' of the Business transacted by the Rajya Sabha” after each of its Session. 28. Maintenance of Minutes Book of the Proceedings of the House. 29. Maintenance of Roll of Members and Member’s Index Cards. 30. Maintenance of Register of Obituary References/References made in the House. 31. 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. 32. Maintenance / updation of Precedents Register and updation of the Precedents Management System on the Rajya Sabha Website. 33. Data feeding of Members/ex-Members’ information in MIS Software. 34. Preparation of Statements showing the "Statistical Information" and "Highlights of the work - At a Glance" transacted during each Session. 35. Allocation of sitting Members of the State of Andhra Pradesh to the State of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana by draw of lots in pursuance of the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act,2014. 36. Digitization of old records/files 37. Updation of Chapters pertaining to the Section for the publication entitled “Rajya Sabha at Work” 38. Cases dealt with under the Right to Information Act, 2005. 39. Introduction/Absence of Ministers during Session of Rajya Sabha 40. Review and Weeding out of old files/records. 200 41. Updation of information concerning Members of Rajya Sabha through “Officers/Section Login” system. 37.2. Sessions of the Rajya Sabha: There were four Sessions of the Rajya Sabha during the year 2014 i.e., 230 th (Part-II), 231 st , 232 nd and 233rd 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 and of sitting Sittings duration (excluding lunch break) Hrs. Mts. Days Hrs. Mts. 230 th 05.02.14 21.02.14 12 4 3 — 59 16 — 25 (Part -II) 231 st 09.06.14 11.06.14 3 2 4 — 58 15 –– 28 232 nd 07.07.14 14.08.14 27 15 39 — 18 142 — 23 233rd 24.11.14 23.12.14 22 6 7 — 58 76 — 15 37.3. Obituary References : 27 Obituary References [5 in 230 th (Part-II) and 8 in 231 st , 2 in 232 nd and 12 in 233 rd 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 Chair: 19 References [5 in 230 th (Part-II), 1 in 231 st , 4 in 232nd and 9 in 233 rd Session] on different subjects were prepared and made in the House. 37.5. Felicitations by the Chair: The Chair offered felicitations to the scientists, engineers and technicians of ISRO, who were associated with the successful launches of GSLV-D5, PSLV-C23, and GSLV MK-III and successful placement of India’s ‘Mangalyaan’ in the orbit of Mars, during the 230 th (Part-II), 232 nd and 233 rd Sessions. The Chair also offered felicitations to the Indian sports contingent for their performance in the Commonwealth Games, 2014 and the 17 th Asian Games held at Incheon, South Korea, to the visually impaired Indian Cricket Team for winning the 4 th Cricket world Cup for the Blind and to the Indian Men’s and Women’s Kabbadi Teams for winning the respective World Cups, during the 232 nd and 233 rd Sessions. The Chair offered felicitations to Shri Kailash Satyarthi on being conferred the Nobel Peace Prize, 2014, during the 233rd Session. 37.6. Retirement of Members: In accordance with the provisions of clause (1) of article 83 of the Constitution, 69 Members (Andhra Pradesh – 5, Arunachal Pradesh-1, Assam-3, Bihar - 5, Chhattisgarh – 2, Gujarat – 4, Haryana – 2, Himachal Pradesh – 1, Jharkhand – 2, Karnataka – 4, Madhya Pradesh – 2, Maharashtra – 7, Manipur – 1, Meghalaya – 1, Mizoram – 1, Odisha – 4, Rajasthan – 3, Tamil Nadu-6, Uttar Pradesh – 10 and West Bengal - 5) of the Rajya Sabha retired on the completion of their term of office during the year 2014. Parliamentary Bulletin Part-II showing the names of Members of Rajya Sabha retiring on the expiration of their term of office during the year was issued on the 10 th of January, 2014, 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 India were reproduced in Parliamentary Bulletin Part-II for information of Members. In the Biennial elections held during the year 2014, 72 Members (Andhra Pradesh – 6, Arunachal Pradesh-1, Assam-3, Bihar - 5, Chhattisgarh – 2, Gujarat – 4, Haryana – 2, Himachal Pradesh – 1, Jharkhand – 2, Karnataka – 4, Madhya Pradesh – 3, Maharashtra – 7, Manipur – 1, Meghalaya – 1, Mizoram – 1, Odisha – 4, Rajasthan – 3, Tamil Nadu-6, Uttarakhand – 1, Uttar Pradesh – 10 and West Bengal - 5) 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 Index Cards and Register. 201 37.8. Bye-elections to the Rajya Sabha: 14 Members namely, Shrimati Nirmala Sitharaman (Andhra Pradesh), Shri Gulam Rasool Balyawi, Shri Pawan Kumar Verma and Shri Sharad Yadav (Bihar), Shri Suresh Prabhu and Shri Birender Singh (Haryana), Shri Prakash Javadekar and Shri Meghraj Jain (Madhya Pradesh), Shri Praful Patel (Maharashtra), Shri Anubhav Mohanty, Shri A. U. Singh Deo and Shri Bhupinder Singh (Odisha), Shri A. Navaneethakrishnan (Tamil Nadu), and Shri Vishambhar Prasad Nishad (Uttar Pradesh) 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 Index Cards and Register. 37.9. Nomination to the Rajya Sabha: Shri K. T. S. Tulsi was nominated to the Rajya Sabha for a full term of six years w.e.f. the 25 th of February, 2014. He made and subscribed Oath/Affirmation and entry related to his nomination was made in Index Card and Register. 37.10. Congratulations to newly elected/re-elected/Nominated Members: Congratulatory letters were issued to all newly elected/re-elected/Nominated Members, after receiving their declaration of results from the Returning Officers of the concerned State. 37.11. Oath/Affirmation In the Chairman’s Chamber: During the year 2014, 30 newly elected/re-elected/Nominated Members (1 on the 6 th of March, 2014, 10 on the 22 nd of April, 2014, 4 on the 23 rd of April, 2014, 14 on the 28 th of April 2014 and 1 on the 21 st of October, 2014, made and subscribed Oath/Affirmation in the Chairman’s Chamber. All arrangements in connection with the Oath taking ceremonies were done by the Section and the names of the Members who had made and subscribed Oath/Affirmation were published in Bulletin Part-II. 37.12. Vacation of Seats: 1. Death: Two seats became vacant due to the demise of two sitting Members, namely, Dr.N. Janardhana Reddy and Shri Murli Deora, and 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. 2. Resignation: Ten seats became vacant due to resignation by Members, namely , Shri Nandi Yellaiah and Shrimati T. Ratna Bai (Andhra Pradesh), Shri Prem Chand Gupta (Bihar), Shri Ishwar Singh, Shri Ranbir Singh Parjapati and Shri Birender Singh (Haryana), Dr. Kanwar Deep Singh (Jharkhand), Shri Rabinarayan Mohapatra and Shri Shashi Bhusan Behera (Odisha) and Prof. S. P. Singh Baghel (Uttar Pradesh). Necessary entries relating thereto were made in the register.