Parliamentary panel meet on Covid-19 stares at postponement as MPs cite travel restrictions, quarantine

The meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology to discuss Covid-19 pandemic scheduled on Friday is staring at the possibility of being postponed, as a section of MPs expressing their inability to attend due to travel restrictions and quarantine measures in states.

This has prompted Jairam Ramesh, a senior Congress MP who is "keeping his fingers crossed" on the quorum required for the meeting, to seek Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu's permission for allowing MPs to attend the meeting through video conferencing.

Ramesh said in a letter to Naidu that many MPs have "expressed their inability to attend" the meeting because of "travel restrictions, quarantine and other constraints". The agenda on the table is to discuss "preparedness to deal with Covid-19 and other pandemics in future".

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"I am doubtful if we can muster up a quorum. But every member irrespective of party affiliation has asked for a virtual sitting of the committee. Surely, this can be arranged -- a number of countries have held even full Parliament sessions in a virtual mode," he said.

"I once again request you to allow virtual meetings of the Standing Committees. Meanwhile, I keep my fingers crossed on quorum," he said. A Parliamentary Standing Committee has 31 members and presence of 11 MPs are necessary for holding a meeting.

If held, this will be the first meeting of a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Covid-19 pandemic. The Standing Committee on Home Affairs led by senior Congress MP Anand Sharma had scheduled a meeting to discuss Covid-19 situation on June 3 but it had to be cancelled after several MPs expressed their inability to attend the meeting on account of quarantine in different states.

A meeting of the Sharma-led panel is now scheduled on July 15 to discuss management of Covid-19 but a similar demand for video conferencing has emerged once again. Senior DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran on Monday written a letter to panel head Sharma seeking digital meeting, citing that Tamil Nadu has strict lockdown rules and he would have to be in quarantine on return that would "severely affect" his Parliamentary duties in his constituency.

Maran said he would not be able to attend the meeting physically if quarantine regulations are not waived for him.

There have been demands for holding the Parliamentary Standing Committee meetings through video conference but it did not go forward as the Parliament had to pass a resolution in this regard. Also, questions about confidentiality of proceedings were also raised.

While there was no word about cancelling or postponing the panel meetings, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat unveiled an eight-point protocol for the meetings.

The members will have to be seated six feet apart, only two witnesses from a Ministry will be allowed to appear before the panel at a time and providing only soft copies material related to meetings among others.