‘Parliament queries on Manipur avoided as subject is sub judice’ | India News

NEW DELHI: The Parliament secretariat has not been accepting questions related to the ethnic violence in Manipur because the matter is sub judice, sources said.

Former Union minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, citing information sourced from Parliamentary Research and Information Support for MPs (Prism) had said on Wednesday that questions from members about Manipur were not accepted and wanted to know the reasons for that.
Sources in Parliament said Rule 47 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Rajya Sabha, which deals with the conditions of admissibility of questions, specifies that a member “shall not ask for information on a matter which is under adjudication by a court of law having jurisdiction in any part of India”.

Similarly, the rules dealing with question hour in Lok Sabha mentions, “If a subject matter of a question is pending for judgment before any court of law or any other tribunal or body set up by the law or is under consideration before a parliamentary committee, the same is not permitted to be asked.”
The Supreme Court on July 20 took suo motu cognisance of the video showing two women in Manipur being subjected to sexual violence amid the ethnic conflict that has spread across the state. The court has given time to take action and ensure that such instances are not repeated.
Sources said there have been other instances when questions on certain subjects were not admitted because of the rules which have clearly been laid down.