New Delhi, March 12 Leaders of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha have sought a discussion in the Upper House on the functioning of either the Ministry of External Affairs or the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, sources said on Thursday.
The issue came up at a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) on Wednesday. Opposition MPs pointed out that neither of the two ministries has been discussed in the House since 2010, a source said.
Detailed scrutiny of ministries is done during the Budget session of Parliament, where the Rajya Sabha discusses the "functioning" of the ministries, while the Lok Sabha exercises its financial oversight through examination and voting on Demands for Grants, where each ministry's proposed expenditure for the coming financial year is debated and put to vote.
Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan announced in the House on Thursday that the BAC has recommended that consultation between the government and opposition parties to decide which ministries' functioning would be discussed should be finalised at the earliest.
Otherwise, the chairman said he may identify the ministries that will be taken up for discussion.
Opposition MPs had also demanded a discussion on the two ministries at a meeting of the BAC at the end of the first half of the Budget session.