Parliament Highlights: Road accidents down by 10% after increase in fines, Gadkari tells LS

The Rajya Sabha has been adjourned till tomorrow.

The Lok Sabha passed The Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Bill, 2020.

The number of road accidents has gone down by an average 10 per cent after the amended Motor Vehicles Act with a steep increase in fines came into force, Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday. Responding to supplementary queries during Question Hour, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said after the amended law came into force, most states have seen a decline in road accidents. He said Kerala and Assam on the contrary have seen an increase in accidents.

No member of the search committee constituted by the government has been appointed as the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. "No," said Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh, in a written reply when asked if an officer from the search committee, constituted for the appointment procedure of the CVC, itself has been appointed against the said post.

The government will make efforts to take indigenous sport kabbadi to the Olympics, Union minister Kiren Rijiju said on Thursday. "A total of 2,880 athletes have been selected under Khelo India scheme for further training to excel in various national/international competitions," he told Lok Sabha.

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday asked members of the upper house not to avoid appearing before probe agencies when summoned as it was their duty to respect the law and legal provisions. Naidu made this suo motu announcement soon after the end of the Zero Hour at noon, urging members not to cite house duty as a pretext to avoid summons by law enforcement agencies. RS member and Essel Group promoter Subhash Chandra recently did not appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) stating that he was occupied with the ongoing Parliament session, among other reasons. 

Asserting that the Centre will take stringent action against those trying to change the basic structure of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said in Rajya Sabha that the mandate of the JNU is research, PTI reported. The JNU's basic character which existed earlier will continue to remain, he said during the Question Hour in the Upper House. "Those who change the character of the university, we will take stringent action against them. The government will not shy away from that," Nishank said. He was responding to a query whether the government will sack the current vice-chancellor in connection with recent protest in the campus over the issue of fee hike.

In the Lok Sabha, Trinamool Congress members demand Prime Minister Narendra Modi to comment in the House on the efforts undertaken by the government to combat the spread of coronavirus. 

In Rajya Sabha, Congress raises the order of the telecom department seeking huge call data records. 'It is tantamount to converting India into surveillance state,' it says. Raising questions of surveillance and alleged violation of user privacy guidelines mandated by the Supreme Court, the government has been seeking call data records (CDRs) of all mobile subscribers across several pockets of the country for specific days over the past few months. Records have been sought for consumers in the circles of Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab.

Proceedings have also resumed in Lok Sabha.

Proceedings have resumed in Rajya Sabha.

Sessions in the Lok Sabha have also been adjourned till 2 pm.

The Rajya Sabha has been adjourned till 2 pm.

Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, Congress MP Rajeev Gowda sought to know what action was taken against Delhi Police for the alleged attack on Jamia students in December last year. "The case is presently in the court," HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said.

BJP MP Sushil Kumar Singh told Lok Sabha,"The people should not have to pay fines for cancelling their air or rail tickets in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak." 

Ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi's wife Rupanjali Gogoi and daughter Rashmi Gogoi outside Parliament on Thursday. (Express photo/Tashi Tobgyal)

Lok Sabha MP from Rajan Baburao Vichare today urged the government to help Indian students stranded in Singapore due to unavailability of flights due to the coronavirus outbreak. A statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office on Thursday, meanwhile, said the embassy will take care of the students till their return to India. "The chief minister spoke to one student- Ms Bodas, and assured her of their safe return," the statement said.

DMK leader Kanimozhi uses a hand sanitizer outside Parliament on Thursday. (Express photo/Tashi Tobgyal)

Former Union minister P Chidambaram wears a mask to Parliament. (Express photo/Tashi Tobgyal)

On the issue of call drops, MP Sanjay Raut said, "The government has started imposing penalty on call drops. However, the problem is still not solved. Today, all the companies are in a hurry to increase their customers. The government should consider banning companies who are unable to solve the issue of call drops."

“I have accepted the offer of the nomination to the Rajya Sabha because of strong conviction that the legislature and judiciary must, at some point of time, work together for nation-building. My presence in Parliament will be an opportunity to project the views of the judiciary before the legislature and vice versa,” Ranjan Gogoi had earlier told an Assamese news channel.

Amid slogans by opposition leaders in Rajya Sabha, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, 'The Rajya Sabha has a great tradition of many eminent persons coming from diverse fields, including former CJIs. Gogoi, who has taken oath today, will surely contribute his best. It was grossly unfair to do like that.' 

Ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi met Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu prior to the oath-ceremony today.

In Rajya Sabha, the government today came under attack for seeking call data records of all mobile subscribers across pockets of the country. Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "To address the issue of call drops, numbers are taken and it is being done with the cooperation of the operations. There is no intrusion and surveillance and we stand committed to it." 

In the Rafale aircraft deal matter — the Opposition Congress used it as its main campaign issue in the 2019 elections — a bench headed by Justice Gogoi declined to order a probe into alleged irregularities in the deal. The verdict came as a massive respite to the Modi government. The bench also initiated criminal contempt proceedings against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for wrongly attributing to the apex court his “chowkidar chor hai” remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with the Rafale case.

The first CJI from north-east India, Justice Ranjan Gogoi headed a five-judge bench that ruled on the Ayodhya title dispute, awarding it unanimously to parties in favour of building a Ram temple on the site where the Babri Masjid stood before its demolition in December 1992. In the NRC case, CJI Gogoi presided on the bench that directed and oversaw implementation of the NRC that involved the question of ethnicity in Assam and citizenship — he himself is an Assamese. The process concluded under his watch in Assam was rejected by the ruling BJP in the state. His nomination comes at a time when the proposed nationwide NRC and the new citizenship law have sparked protests across the country.

As ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi reached the designated spot to take the oath, opposition members raised slogans prompting Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to say that it was unbecoming of members.

Ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi in Rajya Sabha on Thursday. (Screengrab)

Justice Gogoi’s nomination announcement had drawn sharp reactions. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, on his Twitter handle, juxtaposed the report of the nomination with an article on India’s judiciary facing an increasing lack of trust by the public. AIMIM leader and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi tweeted: “Is it “quid pro quo”? How will people have faith in the Independence of Judges? Many Questions.” Former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha too took to Twitter: “hope ex-cji Ranjan Gogoi would have the good sense to say ‘NO’ to the offer of Rajya Sabha seat to him. Otherwise he will cause incalculable damage to the reputation of the judiciary.”

The Question Hour is underway in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi today was sworn in as the Rajya Sabha MP in Parliament.

Ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi arrives at Parliament on Thursday. (Express photo/Tashi Tobgyal)

Ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi's nomination comes four months after his retirement on November 17, 2019. His tenure as CJI was marred by allegations of sexual harassment levelled by a Supreme Court woman employee — he was cleared of the charge by an in-house panel before he demitted office. Gogoi is the second CJI to become a member of the Upper House. Former CJI Ranganath Misra was nominated to Rajya Sabha by the Congress and served from 1998 to 2004. Former Supreme Court judge Fathima Beevi was appointed Governor of Tamil Nadu from 1997-2001. CJI P Sathasivam was also appointed Governor of Kerala from 2014-2019. While Justice K Subba Rao contested the fourth Presidential elections, Justice Mohammad Hidayatullah became Vice President from 1979 to 1984.

In a notification, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced his nomination to Rajya Sabha: “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-clause (a) of clause (1) of article 80 of the Constitution of India, read with clause (3) of that article, the President is pleased to nominate Shri Ranjan Gogoi to the Council of States to fill the vacancy caused due to the retirement of one of the nominated members,” the notification said. The vacancy was created following the retirement of K T S Tulsi.

Former chief justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi on Thursday will take oath as member of the Rajya Sabha at 11 am. Gogoi, who headed benches that heard important and sensitive cases such as the Ayodhya land title dispute, the Rafale case, the Assam NRC issue and the Sabarimala matter, was nominated to the Upper House by the government Monday. Get latest updates from Parliament here.