P Chidambaram On Key Panel That's Discussing New Criminal Laws

Eight Department–related Parliamentary Standing Committees (DRSCs) were re-constituted by Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar including the appointment of senior Congress Rajya Sabha MP P Chidambaram to the 31-member Home panel, the Upper House of Parliament said on Tuesday.

The Rajya Sabha Chairman appointed Mr Chidambaram as a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs at a time when the panel is discussing the three proposed bills that are aimed at replacing the criminal justice laws --Indian Penal Code (IPC) 1860, Indian Evidence Act, 1872, and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973 as Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Sakshya and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita respectively. 

The three bills were introduced in the Parliament by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on August 11.

There are 24 DRSCs, each of which has 31 members – 21 from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha. 

Mr Chidambaram fills the place that fell vacant after the retirement of Congress's P Bhattacharya. The party's Lok Sabha MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is already a member of the Home panel, which is headed by BJP MP Brij Lal. 

A Rajya Sabha notification, dated August 28, said, "The Chairman, Rajya Sabha, has in consultation with the Speaker, Lok Sabha, re-constituted the eight Department–related Parliamentary Standing Committees, coming under the administrative jurisdiction of the Chairman, Rajya Sabha, w.e.f. September 13, 2023, as follows." 

Apart from it, the Rajya Sabha Chairman also appointed Congress MP Jairam Ramesh as the chairman of the Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change. 

Meanwhile, the chairs of six major parliamentary committees - Home, IT, Defence, External Affairs, Finance and Health - are all with the BJP or its allies.

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