SP raises issue of non-formation of several committees of UP assembly

Khanna told the house that the committees could not be formed because of a busy schedule and assured them that they would be constituted soon.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Tuesday raised the issue of non-formation of different committees of the assembly despite passage of nine months since the 18th Vidhan Sabha came into being, saying the delay will weaken the democratic system. Raising the issue in the assembly, the SP members said though the third session of the year was currently on, none of the committees of the assembly have been formed.

On the second day of the winter session, SP chief whip Manoj Pandey and senior members Mata Prasad Pandey and Lalji Verma raised the issue and demanded the formation of committees at the earliest, prompting the Speaker, Satish Mahana, to direct the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna to constitute these committees within a week. Khanna told the house that the committees could not be formed because of a busy schedule and assured them that they would be constituted soon. Committees such as Public Accounts Committee, Petitions Committee, Estimates Committee, Privileges Committee, Rules Committee, Business Advisory Committee, Panchayati Raj Committee and Assurance Committee are formed in the new house for a smooth functioning.

Pressing on with the main opposition party’s demand, Pandey said that according to the trend, when a new Vidhan sabha is formed, its committees are formed at the beginning of the session, but this time it has not been done even in nine months.

Lalji Verma called the delay unprecedented and feared that it would weaken the democratic system.

Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana said that formation of committees is necessary and instructed their formation within a week.

SP’s Ravidas Mehrotra too raised the issue of the election of the Deputy Speaker of the house too.

He said that there is a clear arrangement for the election of the Deputy Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha, but even after nine months the process hasn’t started.