NEW DELHI: While the Centre’s move on abrogation of Article 370 saw protests from opposition parties, Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said that despite serious differences, both Houses of Parliament deliberated in favour of abrogation.
Delivering the first Arun Jaitley Memorial Lecture on ‘Strengthening of Parliamentary Institutions in the Country’ at Delhi University, Naidu talked about reforms for better functioning of parliament — ranging from building consensus on simultaneous polls, unfettered governance and enacting for reservation of women in legislatures.
“Irrespective of differences among members of ruling and opposition parties over multiple issues, both Houses discussed, deliberated in favour of abrogation of (sections of) Article 370,” he said.
The chairman of Rajya Sabha also proposed making rules that automatically take effect against erring members in case of disruptions, doing away with winnability as the sole criterion for selecting contestants by parties to address the concern of rising number of legislators with criminal record and a special bench to expedite hearing of criminal cases against politicians. “Politicians having criminal cases fight elections year after year. There’s need for a system, a special bench to expedite those pending cases.”
Referring to the functioning of the Department Related Standing Committees for detailed examination of legislative proposals, Demands for Grants and other select subjects, Naidu expressed concern over declining attendance, lack of specialisation, limited tenure and frequent hopping of Committees.