New Delhi: The government on Friday came up with a new Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for transfer of accommodation between the housing pools of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, making the MP responsible for getting the transfer done to the concerned House Committee.
The problem arose when a sitting MP of one House of Parliament got elected to the other, and wished to retain the same accommodation.
Under the new SOP, approved by the Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, the concerned MP has been made responsible for transfer of accommodation from one pool to the other.
In case of failure to do so, the respective House Committee can initiate eviction proceedings.
This would enable easy reconciliation of accommodation in the housing pools of both the Houses of Parliament besides averting confusion in allotting houses to MPs, a senior UD Ministry official said.
If a member of one House of Parliament gets elected to the other House, he has to vacate the accommodation he is staying in and seek a new accommodation from the House Committee of the other House he has been elected to.
If a Rajya Sabha member gets elected to Lok Sabha and wants to retain the accommodation of Rajya Sabha pool he was staying in, s/he should get an accommodation of corresponding category transferred to Rajya Sabha pool from the Lok Sabha House Committee.
On retirement or resignation of an MP from Lok Sabha, the said accommodation would be reverted to Rajya Sabha housing pool. The same applies in case of a Lok Sabha member getting elected to Rajya Sabha.
The issue of transfer of accommodation from one pool to
the other was discussed at a meeting of the Joint House Committee last month. It was expressed therein that such transfer of accommodation from one pool to the other was not happening resulting in confusion and difficulties in reconciliation of housing pools of both Houses of Parliament.
To illustrate the confusion arising out of non-transfer on accommodation from one pool to the other, a member of Rajya Sabha got elected to Lok Sabha in 2014 and became a Minister and some months later he got a higher category of accommodation.
Lok Sabha House Committee felt that with his election to the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha pool accommodation he was earlier staying got transferred to Lok Sabha and allotted the same to a new member of Lok Sabha. However, the Rajya Sabha House Committee also allotted the same to a new member of Rajya Sabha, the official said.
The intervention of the Ministry to streamline such transfer from one pool to the other in the form of SOP came on the request of House Committees of both the Houses of Parliament.
CPWD will not change the Pool/status of any Rajya Sabha Pool accommodation in their records without the concurrence of House Committee of Rajya Sabha. CPWD will also not handover possession of such flats without the written permission of House Committees of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha as the case may be.
House Committees of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha will adhere to the new protocol.
