The session of the Rajya Sabha came to an end on Friday after passing 12 Bills and wasting 19 hours due to disruptions over various issues like imposition of President’s Rule in Uttarakhand and AgustaWestland controversy.
The Session, which began on April 25, was adjourned sine die after bidding farewell to 53 retiring members.
In his valedictory address, Chairman Hamid Ansari said the Session was “short and challenging” and that the members had “shown an extraordinary ability to debate and dissent, to accommodate and differ amidst their political compulsions and ideological positions”.
He said 12 Bills were passed or returned, which demonstrated the desirability of careful deliberation through available instrumentalities and the benefits accruing from it.
The House met for 69 hours but over 19 hours were lost due to disruptions over a range of issues, including Uttarakhand and AgustaWestland scam.
Issues relating to train carrying empty tankers sent by the government to drought-hit Bundelkhand and reported remarks by the Prime Minister against leaders of UPA in the Agusta Westland deal at an election rally in Tamil Nadu also led to disruptions. The House, however, sat late for more than 10 Hours to complete legislative and other important business.
The session also saw the resignation of industrialist Vijay Mallya, who is embroiled in a major controversy related to his debt of over 9,000 crore and has left the country.
Giving details, he said that during the Session, 81 Zero Hour submissions were made, 225 Starred Questions and 2391 Unstarred Questions were answered. Of these, 61 were orally answered and another 227 Supplementaries were also raised.