Delhi Speaker Yoganand Shastri on Thursday announced the constitution of an Ethics Committee under the chairmanship of Congress MLA Ramakant Goswami.
At a press conference convened to announce the constitution of various House Committees, he also informed that the Congress Chief Whip also proposed to constitute two new Committees in the Delhi Assembly -- Committee on Welfare of Other Backward Classes and Committee on Welfare of Minorities – and these would be constituted after framing of rules in this regard.
Dr. Shastri said the General Purposes Committee had presented its report in the House on March 31 in which it had recommended constitution of an Ethics Committee in the Assembly as per practice prevailing in Parliament and other State legislatures.
“In order to maintain the highest traditions in parliamentary life, members are expected to observe a certain standard of conduct, both inside the House as well as outside it. Their behaviour should be such as to enhance the dignity of Assembly and its members in general. The conduct of members should not be contrary to the usage, or derogatory to the dignity of the House or in any way inconsistent with the standards, which Legislative Assembly is entitled to expect of its members,’’ Dr. Shastri said.
The Speaker said the Ethics Committee would oversee the moral and ethical conduct of Members and make necessary recommendations after investigating the complaint and also frame code of conduct specifying acts, which constitute unethical conduct.
Since for the welfare of OBCs and minorities, there is only one Committee in the Delhi Assembly ‘Committee on Welfare of SC,ST & OBC’, the Speaker said the Chief Whip of the Congress has suggested constitution of two different committees for each community so that they could pay more attention towards the implementation of their welfare schemes.
Stating that the Congress Chief Whip has suggested setting up of a Committee on Welfare of Other Backward Classes and a Committee on Welfare of Minorities in the Delhi Assembly, Dr. Shastri said these would be `` duly constituted after framing rules in this regard’’.
The Speaker also gave out the names of the Chairperson and members of the various House Committees. All these committees would have nine members including the Chairman.
It was informed that the Speaker would himself chair the Business Advisory Committee, Rules Committee, General Purposes Committee, Committee on Private Members Bills and Resolutions and Committee on Library, while the Deputy Speaker would chair the Question and Reference Committee and the Committee on Petition.
The Ethics Committee would be chaired by Ramakant Goswami of the Congress, the Committee on Privileges by Narender Nath of the Congress, Committee on Government Assurances by H.S. Balli of BJP, Committee on Delegated Legislation by Subhash Chopra of Congress, Committee on Welfare of SC/ST and OBC by Mala Ram Gangwal of Congress, Committee on Papers Laid on the Table by Bijender Singh of the Congress, Committee on Woman and Child Welfare by Barkha Singh of Congress, Committee on Environment by Hari Shankar Gupta of Congress, House Committee on Salary and other Allowances of Members of Delhi Legislative Assembly by Kanwar Karan Singh, Public Accounts Committee by Prahlad Singh Sawhney, Committee on Government Undertakings by Balram Tanwar and Committee on Estimates by Mateen Ahmed.
