Hindustantimes wants to start sending you push notifications. Click allow to subscribe

Cancel IT Panel meeting, BJP MP Dubey tells Tharoor

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By
Aug 26, 2020 01:15 PM IST

Dubey’s letter to Tharoor comes a day after Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla wrote to the chairpersons of all the parliamentary panels, asking them to select subjects based on the rules

Nishikant Dubey, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) and a member of the Information Technology (IT) parliamentary panel, on Wednesday wrote to the committee’s chairperson Shashi Tharoor, a Congress Lok Sabha MP, urging him to cancel the panel’s upcoming meeting next week while citing that its agenda is in contravention of the rules of the House.

Dubey’s letter to Tharoor comes a day after Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla wrote to the chairpersons of all the parliamentary panels, asking them to select subjects based on the rules and keeping in mind the convention that the House does not discuss issues that are “pending in courts”.

Hindustan Times - your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.

“In this connection, I may like to bring to your kind notice that recently, you have convened yet another sitting of the committee on 1 September to discuss the issue of 4G (fourth generation mobile telephony) services in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K),” Dubey wrote in his letter on Wednesday.

“Since this issue is presently pending before the Supreme Court (SC)… any further deliberations on this would again be a violation of the relevant rules/directions as well as the recently issued advisory of the Speaker,” added Dubey, who represents Jharkhand’s Godda constituency in the Lok Sabha .

On Tuesday, Speaker Birla wrote to the chairpersons of all the parliamentary panels and urged them to follow rules and conventions, including not taking up subjects that are pending in courts.

“The committees should give due consideration to Rule 270 and other necessary rules and directions while selecting subjects for examination,” Birla said in the letter, which is accessed by HT.

“In addition, I would like to point out that as per the convention, the committees do not take those subjects for examination, where the issue is pending in courts,” he added.

According to Rule 270, “a committee shall have power to send for persons, papers and records, provided that if any question arises whether the evidence of a person or the production of a document is relevant for the purposes of the panel, the question shall be referred to the Speaker, whose decision shall be final”.

The rule stipulates that the government may decline to produce a document on the ground that its disclosure would be prejudicial to the safety or interest of the state.

The Speaker’s letter came around a week before the IT panel is slated to discuss two contentious topics such as internet shutdowns in J&K and Facebook’s alleged bias towards the ruling BJP.

The IT parliamentary panel’s discussions are slated to be held on September 1 and 2.

The SC is still hearing the matter of internet shutdowns in J&K.

On August 11, the Centre had told the apex court that 4G connectivity would be restored in the Union Territory (UT) of J&K in a staggered manner after August 15, the day the nation celebrated its 74th Independence Day.

The Facebook controversy broke out following a recent report in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which revealed how the social media company had deliberately turned a blind eye towards hate speeches by a BJP lawmaker from Telangana and did not take them down from its platform fearing that it might hurt the firm’s business interests in India, its biggest market.

Facebook denied The WSJ report and reiterated that it acts in an unbiased manner.

Unveiling Elections 2024: The Big Picture', a fresh segment in HT's talk show 'The Interview with Kumkum Chadha', where leaders across the political spectrum discuss the upcoming general elections. Watch now!

Get Current Updates on India News, Election 2024, Arvind Kejriwal Arrest Live Updates, Bihar Board 12th Result Live along with Latest News and Top Headlines from India and around the world.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
OPEN APP