NEW DELHI: It was quite obvious on Thursday morning itself that the first day of Parliament’s monsoon session will get disrupted over the ongoing ethnic violence in the northeastern state of Manipur. At least 12 MPs from eight opposition parties submitted notice under Rule 267 demanding suspension of business in the upper house.
The 12 MPs who submitted suspension of business notice under Rule 267 of the Rajya Sabha included leader of opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, Pramod Tiwari, Ranjeet Ranjan, Nasir Hussain and Imran Pratapgarhi of the Congress; Priyanka Chaturvedi of Shiv Sena (UBT); Derek O’Brien of TMC, Sanjay Singh of AAP, Tiruchi Siva of DMK, Manoj Jha of RJD, Elamaram Kareem of CPM and Binoy Viswam of CPI.
Chaturvedi, in her notice, said, “I hereby give notice under rule 267 of rules of procedures and conduct of business in the Council of State of my intention to move the following motion for the suspension of business/ rules on July 20. That this house will suspend the business of the House on Julu 20 to discuss the matter of urgent public importance regarding the concerning state of women safety in the state of Manipur and commission of deplorable atrocities against women, such as, the recent incidents of revenge rape and parading of women naked. These incidents have occurred as a result of ethnic clashes and crumbling of law and order in Manipur.”
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha after the house reassembled in the afternoon, Kharge, who is also the Congress president, said, “Manipur is burning. Women are raped, naked, paraded and horrific violence is taking place. But the prime minister has kept quiet for so long. Today, after so much outrage, he gave a statement outside the Parliament. We want a detailed discussion on Manipur and PM Modi should make an elaborate statement on the same in the House. We also demand immediate resignation of Manipur chief minister and an imposition of President's Rule.”
Sources told TOI that similar notices were submitted in the Lok Sabha under Rule 56. “The information is confidential,” they said.
Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned for the day as the opposition members created ruckus and entered into the well of the respective houses to demand immediate discussion on the situation in Manipur.
As far as the Rajya Sabha is concerned, its Rule 267 says, “Any member, may, with the consent of the Chairman, move that any rule may be suspended in its application to a motion related to the business listed before the Council of that day and if the motion is carried, the rule in question shall be suspended for the time being: provided further that this rule shall not apply where specific provision already exists for suspension of a rule under a particular chapter of the Rules.”
The Rule further says, "The Chairman alone has the power to give consent for moving a motion for suspension of a rule, and it is for the House to decide whether a particular rule should be suspended or not."
However, this rule does not apply where specific provisions already exist for suspension of a rule under a particular chapter of the rules.
Therefore, under Rule 267 any Rajya Sabha MP can submit a notice to the chairperson to initiate a discussion on urgent issues of public importance while putting the listed business of the day on hold.
A large number of notices under Rule 267 were submitted in the Rajya Sabha during the winter session last year on the alleged Chinese aggression in Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh.
However, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is also the ex-officio chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, declined them saying he will accept the notices on merit.
Rule 267 is summoned under rarest of the rare circumstances.
Dhankhar’s predecessor M Venkaiah Naidu also did not accept any discussion under Rule 267 during his five-year tenure from 2017 to 2022.
The last time a discussion under Rule 267 was accepted was in November 2016 when Md Hamid Ansari was the chairperson. It was summoned to discuss demonetisation.
