RS won't adjourn for day if sitting member dies in inter-session period

New Delhi: Doing away with an old practice, the Rajya Sabha has decided against adjournment of the House for the day if a sitting member passes way during the inter- session period.

However, the convention of adjourning the proceedings for the day if a sitting member dies during session, will continue.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari has accepted the recommendations of the General Purposes Committee in this regard, a Rajya Sabha bulletin said here.

The Committee had recommended that "in the case of death of a sitting member of the Rajya Sabha during inter-session period, the present practice of adjourning the House for the full day on the first day of its assembly, may be done away with and instead the House may be adjourned after making the obituary reference for an hour as a mark of respect in memory of the departed".

It had met on May 3 to decide on the new procedure.

According to the revised procedure, in the case of the death of a minister who was not a member of the Rajya Sabha, the House would be adjourned for the day if the death took place in Delhi to allow members to participate in the funeral or sending of the body from Delhi.

It says that in the case of the death of the head of a national political party, the House would be adjourned for the day provided the deceased was a sitting member of the Lok Sabha and his or her party was represented in the Rajya Sabha and had been recognised by the Chairman either as a party or group in the House.

The Chairman, in consultation with the Leader of the House, will decide on a case-by-case basis whether to adjourn the House for the day in the case of the death of an outstanding personality or national leader or a foreign dignitary, according to it.