Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has been appointed to head the Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology, reports news agency ANI, despite opposition from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). September 12 was the last day of the previous committee’s term. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey repeatedly criticized Tharoor’s leadership of the previous standing committee.
There are reports that Dubey in July had filed a ‘privilege notice’ at the office of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology against Tharoor for allegedly misusing his power in the upper house. The IT panel discussed the Pegasus issue, and it had called officials of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Ministry of Home Affairs, and Department of Telecommunication on the topic ‘Citizens’ Data Security and Privacy’. As a result, the meeting could not take place as 10 BJP members present did not sign the attendance register, which ensured a lack of quorum.
Tharoor, however, told reporters that Dubey’s motion is invalid because no proper procedure was followed in introducing the motion, which requires the Speaker to ask for leave of the House before it can be introduced. Earlier, in a letter to Speaker Om Birla, Dubey alleged Tharoor violated committee rules since ‘he has become a harbinger of all vicious activities’. Dubey had once again moved a notice for breach of privilege against Tharoor in August after the Congress leader requested Facebook to appear before the IT panel.
‘Tharoor has gone beyond the limits of decency, ethics and basic principles of Parliamentary procedure and practice when it comes to the smooth functioning of the Parliamentary Committee by way of committing a grave breach of privilege, not only in his individual capacity as a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha but also in his capacity as Chairperson of one of the most important departmentally related Standing Committees, Information Technology,’ Dubey had said in his notice.
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In the meantime, BJP member Sushil Kumar Modi has been named chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice. The Congress MP Anand Sharma will head the panel on Home Affairs, and Jairam Ramesh will head the panel on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce will be headed once again by YSR Congress MP V Vijayasai Reddy. The TMC’s Sudip Bandyopadhyay has been reappointed as the head of the panel on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, and the BJD’s Bhartruhari Mahtab as the head of the panel on Labour.
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