Understand seriousness of adjournment motions: Speaker Birla to LS members

New Delhi: Saddled with numerous notices to move adjournment motions Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla asked the members on Wednesday to use the measure sparingly and not publicise the issue before mentioning it in the House.

The Speaker said several members submit notices to raise local issues, including some that fall within the ambit of the state governments, without realising the importance of Rule 56 of the business of the House.

“An adjournment motion is a very extraordinary provision to draw the attention of the Government to matters of urgent public importance. This also has an element of condemnation in it,” Birla said.

He said an adjournment motion is admitted only if the Government has failed to perform its duties in accordance with the Constitution and law.

“Every day, several members submit notices to move adjournment motions on local issues, without understanding the importance of Rule 56. Such efforts will diminish the importance and seriousness of an adjournment motion,” Birla said.

He said it has also been observed that members of the same political party submit notices on different issues.

“In such a situation, it becomes inevitable that one political party submits only one notice a day,” the speaker said.

He also objected to members publicising a notice to move an adjournment motion on social media platforms or in the media.