PART
E: LOBBY OFFICE
9.83 Responsibilities of the Lobby Office- The items of work allocated to Lobby Office are as follows:
i) Leave of Absence of Members;
ii) Attendance of Members;
iii) Arrangements in connection with President’s Address;
iv) Books of reference in the Chamber and Journals of the Rajya Sabha;
v) Messenger Service in Rajya Sabha Chamber;
vi) Placing of Parliamentary papers and printed forms of various notices in the Inner Lobby;
vii) Farewell functions and oil portraits;
viii) Coordination with Doordarshan and other agencies for preparing Video recordings of Rajya Sabha Sessions; and
ix) Chamber and Lobby work and allied matters.
The detailed procedures in this respect are given below:
9.84 Leave of absence of Members from the sittings of the House- In terms of article 101(4) of the Constitution, if a Member of Parliament remains absent from the sittings of the House without permission for a period of 60 days, the House by adopting a Motion moved under Rule 215 of the Rules of Procedure, can declare the seat vacant. To ensure that Members are aware of the record of their attendance in connection with such matters, on the basis of perusal of Attendance Registers maintained by the Lobby Office a letter is issued (under the signature of Deputy Secretary) addressed to a Member who is absent without leave from the House for 35-40 sittings, informing him that as per record he has been absent for a number of consecutive sittings (No. to be stated).
To avoid a possible application of article 101(4) of the Constitution in case of continued absence, a Member must apply in writing to the Chairman, as provided under Rule 214 requesting the permission of the House to remain absent from the sittings. On receipt of an application, the Lobby Office verifies the signature of the Member with the record maintained. In case leave requested for is less than 10 days the approval of the Chairman is obtained on file. In other cases, the application is included into the Memorandum of Business meant for the Chairman, who immediately after laying of Papers reads out the request of the Member seeking permission of the House for grant of leave of absence, as required by rule 214(2). On the House signifying its permission or otherwise, a communication is sent to the Member informing whether he has been granted/refused leave of absence.
A Member of Parliament, who has been granted leave of absence by the House, is not entitled to daily allowance for the period of such absence.
A separate file in respect of leave applications will be opened in the name of each Member, which will be closed on the expiry of his term.
9.85 Attendance of Members- An Attendance Register is kept in the Inner Lobby for signatures of the Members as a token of their attendance in the House. The names of the Members are printed both in English and Hindi. Changes if any, are immediately incorporated in the Attendance Register. Before the commencement of each Session, Members are requested through a Parliamentary Bulletin Part-II item to sign the register whenever they attend a sitting of the Rajya Sabha. The Register is split up into four parts:
Part I Division Nos. 001 to 061.
Part II Division Nos. 062 to 127.
Part III Division Nos. 128 to 195.
Part IV Division Nos. 196 to 250.
After the House is adjourned each day, all four parts are collected and on their basis, attendance of Members is marked with ‘P’ in a consolidated Attendance Register. If a Member informs the Lobby Office that he has forgotten to sign, though he was present in the House, his statement in original is attached with the corresponding Attendance Sheet; though no signature is taken in the Part Register. However, ‘P’ is marked in the Consolidated Attendance Register against the name of that Member.
A daily record of Attendance of Members is sent to the Pay and Accounts Office (P&AO) and Members Salaries and Allowances (MS&A) Section of the Secretariat to enable them to settle daily allowance claims, when preferred by the Member.
At the end of the Session, the Session Attendance Register is got bound and preserved permanently.
9.85.1 Cases of absence
without leave: In case a Member
remains absent without leave for a period of 60 days (which may be comprised in
two or more successive sessions), the case is put up on file for the
information of Chairman Rajya Sabha, and a communication under signatures of
the Secretary-General is sent to the Leader of the House, informing of the
facts of the case.
9.86 Copies of President’s Address- The President of India addressees both the Houses of Parliament on various occasions as provided in Article 87 of the Constitution, and for each occasion, a rehearsal of the Presidential Procession is held. Officers of the Secretariat are detailed to take part in the rehearsal as per orders of the Secretary-General. The information regarding the arrangements relating to the President’s Address is published in the Parliamentary Bulletin Part-II three clear days before such Address, in respect of (i) Security; (ii) Traffic; (iii) Passes; and (iv) availability of Copies of the Address.
Half an hour after the President's Address, a sitting of the Rajya Sabha is held and the Secretary-General lays a copy of the Address on the table of the House regarding which an item is got included in the List of Business for the day. Copies of the Address in Hindi and English versions are also made available in the Inner Lobby. Members who were unable to collect their copies from the Lobby collect their copies from the Publications Counter at their convenience.
9.87 Books of Reference in the Chamber- The Lobby Office is responsible for the maintenance of books of reference in the Chamber for consultation by the Chairman, Secretary-General, and Officers at the Table. The books are also available for consultation by Members. The arrangements in this connection are as follows:
i) Constitution of India
ii) Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, Rajya Sabha
iii) Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, Lok Sabha
iv) Rajya Sabha Who’s Who
v) Lok Sabha Who’s Who
vi) Hand Book for Members, Rajya Sabha
vii) Hand Book for Members, Lok Sabha.
viii) Subject for which the various Ministers are responsible for answering questions in the Rajya Sabha.
ix) Committees of Rajya Sabha and other Parliamentary Committees and Bodies of which Rajya Sabha is represented.
x) Directions by the Speaker.
xi) Rules relating to Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee, Rajya Sabha.
xii) List of Members, Rajya Sabha.
xiii) List of Members, Lok Sabha.
xiv) Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954 and the Rules made there under.
xv) Parliamentary functionaries, their Salaries and Allowances A compendium.
xvi) Papers on Computer Controlled Integrated Sound, Simultaneous Interpretation and Vote Recording System in the Rajya Sabha.
xvii) List of Unparliamentary Expressions, Rajya Sabha.
xviii) List of Unparliamentary Expressions, Lok Sabha.
In addition to the books mentioned above, the following books are also kept for the use of the Secretary-General and Officers.
i) Consolidated Who’s Who Rajya Sabha.
ii) Rajya Sabha at work by V.S.Rama Devi and B.G.Gujar.
iii) May’s Parliamentary Practice.
iv) Practice and Procedure of Parliament by Kaul and Shakdher.
v) Constitution of India by Shri V.N. Shukla and Shri D.K. Singh.
vi) Oxford English Dictionary.
vii) A Practical Hindi-English Dictionary.
viii) Adarsh Hindi Dictionary.
ix) Chambers English-Hindi Dictionary.
x) Lighter Moments in the Rajya Sabha.
xi) Manual of Election Law.
xii) Privileges Digest
Two copies each of Rajya Sabha uncorrected Debates Part-I and II relating to the previous day’s sitting of the House are kept daily in the Chamber beneath the Table. Two copies of Starred and Unstarred Questions lists are also kept on the Table. After the day's proceedings is over the copies are removed from the Table each day and kept in the Inner Lobby, sorted date wise. As soon as the Debates (official Record) is printed, a bound copy is procured from the Sales & Archives and kept in the Inner Lobby in chronological order. The uncorrected Debates of the day are then removed from the inner lobby. The Lobby Office must monitor the process to see that printed Debates are procured as early as possible.
After the termination of each Session, all books kept for the Chairman, the Secretary-General, Officers at the Table and the Members are removed from the Chamber by the Lobby Office properly checked and kept safely in the Inner Lobby. A week before the commencement of next Session all the books are updated, before being placed in the Chamber.
9.88 Messenger Service in the Rajya Sabha Chamber- Chamber Attendants are posted for Chamber duties at the commencement of each Session. They attend to the needs of the Ministers, Members, Officers at the Table and in the Official Gallery. Chamber Attendants posted in the Lobbies attend to the telephone calls. The work of carrying important messages, files and papers from Chamber to Officers concerned and vice-versa is also done by them.
Messages from the Chair is handled by the Marshal and in turn by Chamber Attendants posted in the Chamber. All slips or letters sent to the Chair by Members are given to the Chamber Attendants who in turn gives them to the Marshal after showing them to the Officer at the Table. In case the Marshal is not there, the Chamber Attendants are to hand over the messages to the Officers at the Table, (and the Secretary-General if necessary) who will arrange to pass on the messages to the Chair.
9.89 Placing of Parliamentary Papers and Printed Forms of various Notices in the Inner Lobby- Before the commencement of a sitting, the Lobby Office ensures that sufficient number of copies of Parliamentary papers pertaining to the Business before the House and printed forms for giving various notices are placed in the racks kept for the purpose in the Inner Lobby. The undistributed copies of Parliamentary papers are removed from the racks after the adjournment of the House and kept in the Record Room of the Section.
9.90 Maintenance
of Chamber Lobbies and Galleries- The Lobby Office coordinates with the
CPWD with regard to fixtures and furnishing of the Rajya Sabha Chamber Lobbies
and Galleries. Periodic checks are to be conducted to ensure that furniture,
carpeting, lighting, sound, air-conditioning, vote recording system, division
bells etc. are in good condition, and deficiencies, if any, are to be got
corrected through the CPWD. The
administrative approval and financial sanction of the expenditure are taken
from the Secretary-General on receipt of estimates from CPWD and the same is conveyed
to CPWD.
As soon as a Member has been allotted a seat, his
nameplate is got fixed with the help of the Caretaker. As and when seats are re-allotted to Members
due to change in the Party affiliation, resignation, demise, induction of
Members as Ministers etc., the name plates of the concerned seats are removed
or re-fixed as the case may be. The
Assistant Engineer of the Automatic Vote Recording Equipment is also informed
accordingly.
With a view to checking the Sessional arrangements
made by the CPWD authorities for Rajya Sabha Chamber, its Lobbies, Galleries,
Sound System, etc. a rehearsal is fixed one week before the commencement of
each Session of the Rajya Sabha for foolproof working. The rehearsal is attended by the Officers of
the Secretariat and CPWD authorities.
Soon after a session is over, a detailed inspection
of the area is done by the Joint/Deputy Secretary, attended by CPWD and other
allied agencies, wherein all the defects coming to notice during the preceding
session period and any other improvements found necessary during the inspection
are communicated so that the inter-session period is used to take corrective
action. Compliance is seen at the next pre-session rehearsal.
9.91 Arrangements for Voting- Whenever the days’ business includes an item where
voting by division is likely or necessary, Lobby Office will coordinate with
CPWD (Electrical) to ensure that the electronic vote recording machine is fully
operational. They will also keep sufficient voting slips in case electronic
voting facility becomes non-operational.
In case voting by division
is ordered, and it becomes necessary to take the votes of Members whose votes
were not recorded or incorrectly recorded by the electronic voting machine,
Chamber attendants will supply Members who wish to record their Manual vote,
voting slips in which the Member will record his vote and division number.
Adequate additional officers and staff will be kept available to ensure
supervision and distribution and collection back of the slips in the shortest
possible time for submission to the Table. At the Table the votes are checked
against the electronic record and necessary changes/additions/subtractions made
from the ‘ayes’, ‘noes’ or absentees, to produce the corrected voting result, which
is submitted to the Secretary-General for obtaining the approval of the Chair.
9.92 Journals
of Rajya Sabha- A
Journal for each Session of Rajya Sabha is prepared by the Lobby Office in
English, mainly for internal use, as a quick reference. The Journal contains a resume of the
proceedings of each day’s sitting stating briefly the decisions of the
House. It is compiled daily after
examining the List of Business, Bulletin Part-I and uncorrected Debates.
The following is the procedure in connection with the preparation of Journals of the
Rajya Sabha: -
i)
The Journal records
the business disposed off in chronological order without mentioning the details
of the process of debates.
ii)
Journals are compiled
in a book form and a number is given to the entire volume pertaining to the
whole Session.
iii)
Summons issued by the
President is reproduced in the journal as the first item.
iv)
When the
Secretary-General lays on the Table a copy of the President's Address to both
Houses of Parliament assembled together, the entire text of the Address is
reproduced (in Hindi and in English) in the Journal.
v)
After mentioning at
what time House met etc., facts regarding oath/affirmation, obituary
references, questions answered orally and papers etc. laid on the Table on the
day are mentioned. Papers/Reports as actually laid/presented on the Table in
that order and the name of the concerned Minister/Member who has actually laid
are mentioned.
vi)
Messages from the Lok
Sabha as read out by the Secretary-General, Rajya Sabha, in the House are
reproduced in the Journal.
vii)
Rulings given by
Chairman in the House are reproduced in the Journal.
viii)
Under the heading
'Legislative Business' when the bills are taken up for consideration and
passing/return in the House, the names of the Members who took part in the
discussion on a bill are not mentioned and only clauses etc. of the bill are
mentioned. The name of the Minister who moves the bill for
consideration/passing/return only is mentioned. The usual procedure of passing
the Bill i.e. different stages of passing of the bill is mentioned.
ix)
The Journal is
compiled in English and cross checked with the uncorrected Debates and the
Part-I Bulletins and is issued within 15 days of the end of each Session.
x)
When the House is
adjourned sine-die, the prorogation Order is also reproduced in the
Journal.
xi)
Finally, an Index to
the Journal is also appended at the end.
The Journal is prepared on Computer and the CRC text
is sent for printing while the electronic version is put onto Internet. The
entire process is required to be completed within 15 days of termination of
each session, and printed copies are to be kept available by the commencement
of the next session. 50 copies are circulated to Officers and Sections as per
standard distribution list.
9.93 Maintenance
and upkeep of Rooms of Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Committee Chairmen,
Parliament House Committee rooms etc.- A close liaison is kept with the CPWD regarding the maintenance of rooms
of the Hon’ble Chairman, Deputy Chairman, the leader of the House, Leader of the
Opposition and Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committees and
Secretary-General and the two Committee rooms in Parliament House. On receiving
written/oral requests from the personal staff of Officers of Rajya Sabha and
Chairmen of the Parliamentary Standing Committees, regarding the maintenance
and supply of various items, it is conveyed to the CPWD authorities for
necessary action.
9.94 Video recording of Rajya Sabha
Proceedings- Doordarshan has been authorised
to make recordings of the entire Proceedings of the Rajya Sabha, which are
broadcast live after text is overlaid on line by Notice Office officials using
the BIIDS system. Betacam tapes of these proceedings containing the overlaid
text are handed over by Doordarshan to the Lobby Office for safekeeping after
indexing and recording the date and time of the coverage on the cassette.
CD recordings (compalible
with VCD player and computer) from the Betacam tapes are then got prepared by
the Lobby Office after ensuring necessary expunctions wherever ordered by the
Chair, and after adding informatory text which may not have been in the text
overlay either due to oversight or due to technical snags. All expunctions will
be done as per the recorded orders of the chair and in consultation with the Minute
Book and verbatim record. To assist in this process the Reporters Section will
supply the list of time locations where expunctions have taken place along with
a marked copy of the uncorrected debate. The CD prepared after expunction will
provide a suitable text at such locations and will be submitted through Lobby
Office to Reporters Section for checking of the expunctions carried out before
being accepted as an official record. In all 4 copies supplied, these will be
duly indexed on the CD and its cover. The Master copy along with one additional
copy are kept in the Lobby Office. One copy each for archival purposes will be
sent to Research and Library Unit and LARRDIS of Lok Sabha Secretariat. The one
of the additional copy with Lobby Office will be available for ready supply to
Members and additional copies if required will be got prepared with NIC help
from the Master Copy.
Lobby
Office will maintain a Register showing CDs received and supplied to various
quarters on the following format:
|
S. No. |
Date of
proceedings |
Hour |
Date of
receipt of CDs |
No. of copies
received |
No. of copies
distributed to |
||
|
R&L |
LARRDIS |
Other |
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Lobby Office
will invite annual or periodic tender from technically capable agencies for
conversion of the Betacam tapes into CDs, and will get the work done from the
approved tenderer. Lobby Office will also procure Betacam tapes for supply to
Doordarshan through calling of tenders. After CD of a tape has been prepared,
the Betacam will be reissued to Doordarshan for reuse after affixing a new
index slip. Subject to wear and tear, the tape may be reissued 3-4 times, after
which it will be disposed off.
CDs will be issued
to Members/media/public on the basis of written request at such price as may be
determined by the Committee on provision of computers.
9.95 Steel
Lockers for Members- Lockers are allotted to
Members for keeping their Parliamentary papers etc. These lockers are kept in the Outer Lobby of Rajya Sabha opposite
the Stenographer’s Pool.
Seventy two Lockers are available for the use of
Members and hence, the same is allotted on request of Members on ‘First Come,
First Served basis.’ A Register is maintained for recording allotment of
Lockers. When a locker is allotted to a
Member, a card is inserted in the frame indicating the name of the Member to
whom it belongs. Generally, one key is provided to the Member concerned and the
Lobby Office obtains his signature as a token of his having received the
key. If however, the Member desires
that he be given both the keys, entry in this regard is made in the Register
and both keys are given. When a Member ceases to be a Member of Rajya Sabha, he
is requested to return the keys within a period of 1 month of ceasing to be a
Member.
9.96 Farewell Function in
Honour of the outgoing Chairman and the Retiring Members of Rajya Sabha- In case the Chairman is in the Chair in that
session, in which he demits office, the Leader of the House, Leader of
Opposition make brief speeches on the occasion in the House itself.
A farewell function is also organised in honour of the outgoing Chairman, Rajya Sabha at the time of his demitting Office. Secretary-General, Rajya Sabha finalises the date and time of function in consultation with the Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha and generally the Parliament House Annexe is the venue. A group photograph is also taken.
A farewell function and group photograph is also arranged in honour of the retiring Members, when one third of Members of Rajya Sabha retire every second year. A small Committee consisting of a Convenor and Five Members is constituted from among the sitting Members for the conduct of the farewell function, which is generally held in the Parliament House Annexe.
Lobby Office maintains Liaison with the CPWD and other allied services for the purpose of arranging a photographer, printing of invitation cards, making security arrangement of VIPs etc.
9.96.1
Preparation and display of Oil Portrait of Former Chairmen of Rajya Sabha in
the Inner Lobby- Whenever a new Chairman takes
Office, an oil portrait is prepared for display in the Inner Lobby. A panel of artists is obtained from the
Principal, College of Art, Delhi for the purpose, and work awarded after the
Secretary-General consults the Chairman.