New Delhi: Experts concur with the proposal of the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science, Technology, Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, that meetings of parliament committees be held virtually, and insist that such discussions can be conducted within the existing framework of parliamentary procedures.However, the NDA government, citing a threat to “confidentiality” of discussions, has declined such a proposal mooted by Ramesh along with the chairmen of three other committees and several members since July.Currently, there are 24 department-related parliamentary standing committees, of which eight are under the Rajya Sabha, and 16 work under the Lok Sabha.Also read: Parliament’s Monsoon Session Starts Amid Slew of Changes Effected by COVID-19 SituationIn July this year, when meetings of these committees resumed following the COVID-19 outbreak, the heads of at least four of them, including Ramesh, demanded that they be allowed to conduct their meetings virtually.On October 28, Ramesh tweeted that many MPs had joined him in making the same demand.Tagging the Lok Sabha speaker and Rajya Sabha chairman, he added that while these demands were rejected repeatedly, the Kerala assembly was meeting virtually. He hoped that both houses followed suit.Many MPs and I have been demanding that Parliament’s Standing Committees be allowed to have meetings virtually. These demands were rejected repeatedly. Day before a Committee of the Kerala Assembly met virtually. Hope @ombirlakota & @MVenkaiahNaidu will take the cue at least now.— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) October 28, 2020A large number of people reacted to Ramesh’s tweet and asked why when schools, colleges, offices and even courts and commissions are functioning online to maintain social distancing in times of COVID-19, the Standing Committees are not being allowed to do so.Unnecessary insistence on the ‘rules’Speaking to The Wire, former secretary general of Lok Sabha, P.D.T. Achary, said it would be wrong to deny virtual meetings on the ground that there are no provisions in the ‘Rules of Procedure’ for holding them in this format.“The rules did not visualise the present kind of situation. Rules say that the meetings shall be held in Delhi and with the permission of the Speaker/Chairman, it can be held outside also. That is all that the rules say,” he noted.Opposition leaders stage a protest in the Rajya Sabha over suspension of 8 MPs, September 21, 2020. Photo: RSTV Screengrab via PTIIn a virtual meeting, he added, people will be sitting in different places and participating in the meeting. So, the chairman can sit in Delhi, and on some platform, these can be conducted. “I don’t know why are they quoting the rules,” he asked.He recalled that when the parliament met for the monsoon session, members of the Lok Sabha were sitting in the Lok Sabha gallery and Rajya Sabha chamber as well.“The ‘rules’ also did not allow that. Rules do not recognise the presence of members in the gallery. They only recognise their presence in the chamber. But this was done. So, rules do not come in the way of virtual meetings. The only thing is that the speaker or the chairman should allow these,” he pointed out.Achary added that there was no reason for not allowing virtual meetings as these standing committees perform very important functions, ranging from scrutiny of the budget to other key subjects.Also read: MPs Appeal for Virtual Parliamentary Meetings, Centre Stonewalls RequestsDuring the ongoing pandemic, many countries, parliaments and committees are meeting online. So, there is nothing wrong in having a virtual meeting, he noted.On the Rules Committee being empowered to amend the rules, he said, the panel can make its recommendations to the house, and it is for the house to adopt it.“The Rules Committee is headed by the chair, but it has not been constituted in the Lok Sabha,” he added.No compromise of confidentiality Asked if virtual meetings compromise the confidentiality required, Achary said: “In a virtual meeting the members would be making their presentation, and those participating in the meeting would be hearing them and no one else. So, what is the great secrecy about it. It would be the same way as in an actual physical meeting. And, so would be the case with witnesses. The proceedings would only be open to the participants so where is the question of breach of secrecy.”As for the recordings, he said, those would be maintained by the staff who would be assisting the chairperson, and these too would be akin to the records maintained in physical proceedings of such committees.Therefore, Achary insisted that the speaker of Lok Sabha and chairman of Rajya Sabha are entitled under the existing Rules to allow such virtual meetings.Requests for online meetings pour inApart from Ramesh, three other chairpersons of standing committees made similar demands earlier this year.They were Shashi Tharoor (Information and Technology), Anand Sharma (Home Affairs) and Bhartrihari Mahtab (Labour). Their main contention has been that it is difficult to get the requisite quorum needed to start these meetings.Several members have also sought virtual meetings on the ground that due to travel restrictions, quarantines and other difficulties, they may not be able to come to Delhi.Meanwhile, an eight point protocol for the meetings was announced by the Rajya Sabha secretariat. Similarly, the Lok Sabha secretariat has issued social distancing norms for meetings of the committees working under it.Jairam Ramesh’s letter to Rajya Sabha chairmanIn his letter to Rajya Sabha chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu, written some time back, Ramesh had stated that MPs across party lines had been seeking virtual sittings of his committee to discuss issues related to the pandemic.Jairam Ramesh. Photo: PTIHe had pointed out that such virtual meetings could “surely” be arranged, especially since by then a number of countries had even conducted their full parliament sessions in a virtual mode.“I hope you will allow. Where there is will, there is skill!” Ramesh had written in the letter.He had also mentioned how several MPs had stated that it would be difficult for them to come to Delhi for the meeting due to travel restrictions. “I am doubtful if we can muster up a quorum,” he had noted.Threat to confidentiality norms: Centre In citing confidentiality norms, the government has pointed out that during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s time in 2008, the then Rajya Sabha chairman, Hamid Ansari, had not allowed such changes in the conduct of standing committee meetings to uphold the secrecy norms.The Centre has pointed out that under Ansari, when the issue of allowing public telecast of the standing committee meetings was discussed in the General Purpose Committee, the move to do away with confidentiality was opposed.It has further recalled that at that point in time, the argument was that members get the freedom to speak outside of their party lines in closed door meetings. ‘Technology only solution’Leaving aside the fact that the public telecast of committee meetings and conducting virtual meetings (to which the public would have no access) are not the same thing, Ansari has been quoted by The Hindu as saying that events of 12 years ago are no longer relevant now and there is a need to keep pace with changes in technology.“In circumstances of today, there is no option but to embrace technology. The British Parliament is just one of the Parliaments around the world which has been meeting regularly via the video conferencing,” he was quoted as saying.He further added that “there is no point of saying that what happened 12 years back is relevant today. Under present circumstances and compulsions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, there is no option but to use the virtual medium.”