No question hour in monsoon session of Parliament, only zero hour

There will be no Question Hour, a curtailed Zero Hour and no private members'' bills during the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats have decided. This created a furore with Opposition parties questioning and criticising the Centre for the move.

New Delhi: There will be no question hour in the monsoon session of Parliament, which is scheduled to begin from September 14 and only zero hour will be allowed, sources have confirmed.

During zero hour, parliamentarians can raise matters of great importance without the mandatory ten days advance notice. While the question hour is the first hour of a sitting session in which Members of Parliament ask questions from ministers.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi had earlier said that he has requested Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to keep the duration of the zero hour at 30 minutes.

However, he said that the Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairman will take the final decision regarding the zero hour.

"Opposition parties are raising questions regarding question hour and zero hour. Arjun Ram Meghwal, V Muraleedharan & I had spoken to every party regarding this and except for TMC's Derek O'Brien, everyone agreed (to scrap question hour)," Joshi told on September 2.

"I have suggested Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairman to keep the duration of the zero hour at 30 minutes. They will take the final decision. Govt is ready to have discussions on every issue. We have also requested the Speaker to take unstarred questions," he said.

According to official bulletins by Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, there will be no question hour and private members' business in both Houses of Parliament in the monsoon session amid coronavirus pandemic.

This created a furore with Opposition parties questioning and criticising the Centre for the move.

The monsoon session of Parliament is scheduled to begin from September 14 and is slated to conclude on October 1, without any day off. Both the Houses of Parliament will sit for four hours daily adhering to coronavirus precautionary measures.

On the first day of the Session on September 14, the Lower House will meet from 9 AM to 1 PM and sitting in the Upper House will begin 3 PM to 7 PM.

On subsequent days, proceedings in Rajya Sabha will be held from 9 AM till 1 PM while the time for Lok Sabha sittings has been fixed from 3 PM to 7 PM.

(ANI)