A Facebook whistleblower Sophie Zhang is likely to depose in front of the Standing Committee on IT headed by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.
Mr. Tharoor tweeted that he has sought permission from Speaker Lok Sabha Om Birla to allow Ms. Zhang’s deposition.
He was writing in response to Ms. Zhang’s tweet, “As the Lok Sabha has not asked me to testify (despite the call of @internetfreedom) I’ve arranged to do an AMA (ask me anything) with @redditindia on Saturday, November 6 at 8:30 pm so that I may speak directly to the Indian people”. She later deleted her tweet.
Mr. Tharoor took to Twitter to clarify that Ms. Zhang was not being ignored. He pointed out that between September 12 and October 12, Parliamentary Standing Committees were suspended awaiting their reconstitution. And once the Committees were reconstituted, the members had to sit together to deliberate on agenda for the next year. “This has just happened & with its agenda official, the Committee will hold its first meetings of the new session on Nov16&17,” he tweeted.
The other and more important hurdle is that the current Parliamentary procedures do not permit depositions to the Standing committees via video conference. This has been for long a bone of contention between Opposition leaders and the Lok Sabha Speaker.
“Under our procedures, videoconferencing is not permitted. Testimony in person by witnesses from abroad requires the Speaker’s consent. This is being sought,” he tweeted.
