President concerned over frequent disruptions in Parliament

Voicing concern over frequent disruptions in Parliament and state legislatures, President Pranab Mukherjee today said these "aberrations" are over minor issues which can be resolved. Noting that disruptions in Parliament were becoming a trend, Mukherjee said, "This is seen not only in the federal legislature but also in state legislatures." Delivering the first N K P Salve Memorial Lecture here, the President said he has even tried to look at the "remedy" for these disruptions and in the process realised that most of the time the point of contention is under which rule of Parliament the discussion on an issue should be held. He said on most occasions the Leader of the Opposition in either House of Parliament objects on this ground. Mukherjee's comments today come against the background of frequent forcing of adjournments by the Opposition in Parliament in the last few months. "To my mind it is not very difficult to find a solution to this problem," he said. Mukherjee, who was Leader of the Lok Sabha before becoming President, had often taken the lead in the past on behalf of the government to resolve such deadlocks. He pointed out that it was not contemplated by the makers of the Constitution that such frequent disruptions would become a "trend" in Parliament. "This aberration should be corrected," Mukherjee said, adding that due to disruptions even the powers of discussing the monetary and financial matters which are vested in the Lok Sabha are not utilised fully. (MORE)