New Delhi: The Delhi Assembly's winter session that concluded yesterday was the longest in the history of the legislature here in which 11 sittings of the House were held and business conducted for 43:30 hours against the scheduled 38.30 hours, Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said on Saturday.
The House in session saw the introduction and passage of 15 Bills, including the "historic" Janlokpal Bill. A total of 253 question notices were received while 244 notices for Special Mention and 42 notices for Short Duration discussions were also received during the sittings, Goel said.
Issues like increasing pollution in Delhi and shortage of night shelters were also raised through 42 Calling Attention Motions in the House. Twenty-one notices were received for Private Members' resolutions and two days were earmarked for taking up of the same.
Saying that nearly 80-82 per cent of the questions asked Under Rule 280 remained unanswered by the officials concerned, Goel declared that he was thinking of calling the officials in the House to explain the reason for not submitting answers.
"Just 20 per cent of the questions asked under Rule 280 were answered. We will act against officials for failing to give replies," he said at a press briefing.
Referring to the conduct of the legislators in the House and incidents involving BJP MLA OP Sharma and AAP's Pankaj Pushkar, the Speaker said that he exercised "increased strictness" in such matters.
To a question about Sharma's suspension for his alleged "derogatory" remark against AAP legislator Alka Lamba, Goel said that the matter has been referred to the Ethics Committee, which is likely to submit its report by the Budget session.
"The Ethics Committee is empowered to take action against the members, which could be termination of membership or imprisonment. It has held three meetings so far and is likely to submit its report by the Budget session," the Speaker said.
He also cited the "quarrel" involving Pushkar and two other MLAs of the ruling party, adding that he had spoken to the MLAs in question and trying to resolve the issue.
Pointing to the "improved" way of asking questions in the House, Goel said that the members are "learning through their experience and the orientation programme held for them has also helped".
On accusations about him "siding with" the dominant ruling party MLAs and discriminating against the three opposition BJP MLAs in the House, the Speaker denied the charge, saying, "no opposition has ever said that the Speaker was not impartial".
