No party wrote to boycott JPC on 3 bills to unseat jailed ministers, says Birla

LOk Sabha utterer Om Birla on sat said that no political company has officially conveyed to him almost their decision to boycott the upcoming Joint Committee of Parliament on the three bills that bar any minister, chief minister or prime minister from holding the position after getting arrested.Birla’s response comes weeks after Trinamool, Samajwadi Party and Shiv Sena (UBT) have announced that they won’t join the JPC as they refused to be a part of the panel that will approve an objectionable legislation.At a press conference here on Saturday, Birla said, “On the issue of JPC, no political party has communicated to me in writing on this subject (boycotting the JPC). We will form JPC with all parties.”The proposal to form a JPC was adopted in the Lok Sabha at the fag end of the monsoon session—August 20. Lok Sabha secretary general Utpal Kumar Singh told HT that letter has been sent to parties seeking nomination for the panel. Singh pointed out it is a standard process to send invitations to parties after the proposal to form a panel is approved.The three bills – the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, The Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill and The Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill— propose that a sitting minister, chief minister or even the Prime Minister can lose their position within a month if they are arrested or detained for 30 consecutive days over an offence that carries a jail term of five years or more.Tabled in the Lok Sabha on August 20 amid a storm of Opposition protests and sloganeering that even saw the draft legislation torn up and pieces of paper flung at the minister, the bills are set to be sent to a 31-member JPC comprising 21 members of the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha.In a blog, TMC Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’Brien announced boycott of TMC and SP and said, “Joint Parliamentary Committees (JPCs) were originally conceived as democratic and well-intentioned mechanisms, established through motions passed by both Houses of Parliament and endowed with exceptional powers, such as summoning witnesses, demanding documents, and examining experts. These are far beyond what ordinary committees can do, to ensure transparency and public accountability. However, this purpose has eroded significantly post-2014, with JPCs increasingly being manipulated by the government in power. Now, in the same committee which represents public accountability, procedures are bypassed, opposition amendments rejected, and meaningful debate replaced by partisan fluff.”Congress leader Jairam Ramesh later said the party is :disinclined” to join the JPC. CPIM general secretary MA Baby had requested Congress general secretary KC Venugopal to talk to INDIA allies and arrive at a common stand.