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The Question Hour is the most popular device available to a member to raise issues in the House and elicit responses on matters of public importance
Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel (waving) said important issues were left unanswered because most replies said they were outside the Delhi government’s purview. (PTI)
The last time the Delhi Assembly witnessed a question hour was in December 2023. In the 24 sessions held in the year 2024, there was no question hour — one of the most critical aspects of democracy.
Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, while speaking to News18, said there were two reasons behind the unusual phenomenon. The first, he said, was late or lack of reply from the departments as it was often said that the subject was out of the Delhi government’s control.
“Question Hour was being held and MLAs were asking questions but there was no reply. The MLAs got fed up and stopped asking questions…There is another reason that Question Hour is not held many times as there was no notice of 12 ‘clear’ days between the announcement of session and the actual session date,” he told News18.
Goel added: “There are so many questions around Delhi Development Authority (DDA), including why land is not being allocated. Replies are not coming from the revenue department as they say DDA is not under them. Similarly, if there is any question around services, the department turns it down and refuses to answer. If someone asks questions on law and order, it is said this is not a subject of the Delhi government… All the important issues were left behind,” he said.
Delhi is a Union Territory with an assembly. The city government does not have control over land, law and order and services.
As per the official website of the Delhi Assembly, the rules for Question and Answer state that no less than 12 days’ notice is to be given in writing to the assembly secretary. ‘Clear days’ include Saturdays, Sundays and holidays but do not include the date of receipt of a notice by the Secretariat.
It also says members have a right to ask questions to elicit information on matters of public importance from the government. The Question Hour is the most popular device available to a member to raise issues in the House.
“Rule 29 of the Delhi Assembly Rules states that a question must relate to a matter of administration for which the Government is responsible. Its purpose should be to elicit information or to give suggestions of action on a matter of public importance,” the rules read.
In December 2023, when a three-day session was called, 252 notices of questions were received.
Since 2020, when the term of the current assembly started, a total of 1,095 questions have been listed. Question Hour was also not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic that had curtailed sessions.
The BJP, which is in opposition in the assembly, has made demands to include Question Hour multiple times in the past few weeks.
In the 2020 assembly polls in the city, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 62 seats and the remaining eight were bagged by the BJP. The term of the current 70-member assembly is ending in February and there will be a fresh election in the next few weeks.
