Members not told about Lokpal panel meeting today

The Bharatiya Janata Party, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the DMK members of the select committee on Lokpal are furious that the Rajya Sabha secretariat did not inform them about its first meeting scheduled for Monday.

Satyavrat Chaturvedi, chairman of the select committee on Lokpal, did not inform many of the Opposition parties about the meeting to be held on Monday.

The AIADMK, BJP, DMK and Trinamool Congress have protested this lapse and plan to complain to the chairman of the Rajya Sabha for the unilateral decision by Chaturvedi to announce the meeting schedule in the media first. The Rajya Sabha secretariat also failed to inform the members of Parliament either by mail or SMS, the members say.

Dr V Maitreyan, a member of this committee, said Congress MP Chaturvedi should have asked the secretariat first to ascertain availability of other MPs before scheduling the meeting.

DMK MP Trichy Siva and Dr V Maitreyan of the AIADMK lodged a protest with Chatruvedi on Monday morning and asked him not to hold the select committee meeting.