Of 11 parliamentary panels appointed, BJP MPS to head 5

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmakers Vinod Kumar Sonkar and Sunil Kumar Singh have been named as chairpersons of the parliamentary committees on ethics and privileges, a notification of the Lok Sabha s e c r e t ari at s ai d on Wednesday. Sonkar is a Lok Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh’s Kaushambi while Singh represents Jharkhand’s Chatra in Parliament.

The Committee of Ethics formulates a code of conduct for Parliament members and oversees their moral and ethical conduct. The panel also examines cases referred to it with reference to ethical and other misconduct of the members. The functions of the Privileges Committee are semi-judicial in nature and include the examination of breach of privileges of the House.

Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP’S Danish Ali, Preneet Kaur (Congress) and PR Natarajan (Communist Party of India) are among others nominated to the Ethics Committee.

BJP’S Meenakshi Lekhi, TR Balu (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or DMK) and Achyutananda Samanta (Biju Janata Dal) are among other members of the 15-member Privileges Committee.

Nominations were a l s o announced for 11 committees of which the BJP has retained the chairpersonship of five panels.

Congress’s MP from Ludhiana, Ravneet Singh, has been named the chairperson of the Committee on Absence of Members from the Sittings. The panel considers applications from members for leave of absence from sittings.

BJP’S Heena Gavit will be the chairperson for the Committee on Empowerment of Women. Jaya Bachchan of the Samajwadi Party and DMK’S K Kanimozhi are among other 30 members of the committee.

BJP’S Rajendra Agrawal has been nominated as the chairperson of the Committee on Government Assurances. The 15-member committee examines the assurances, promises and undertakings ministers give on the floor of the House.

The Committee on Papers Laid on the Table will have the BSP’S Shyam Singh Yadav as the chairperson. The 15-member Committee on Salaries and Allowances of MPS will have BJP’S Rita Bahuguna Joshi among its members.