No privileges or ethics committee in LS for 2 yrs

NEARLY two years into the tenure of the Lok Sabha, two of its key oversight bodies, the Privileges Committee and the Ethics Committee, are yet to be constituted, even as the government is weighing the option of referring Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's case to one of them.

- PREETHA NAIR @NewDelhi

The issue came to the fore after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju responded to a “substantive motion” moved by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey against Gandhi over his speech during the Budget session. Rijiju said that once the motion is admitted by the Speaker, a decision would be taken in consultation with the chair on whether the matter should be referred to the Privileges Committee, the Ethics Committee, or be discussed directly in the House during the second leg of the Budget session beginning March 9.

His remarks amid intensifying confrontation between the government and the Opposition have drawn attention to an unusual institutional vacuum that neither of the two committees has been set up in the 18th Lok Sabha so far.