Rajya Sabha Chairman jagdeep Dhankar said that the extra 30-minute recess on friday in the rajya sabha has been removed in line with the timing of the Lok Sabha. Vice President and rajya sabha Speaker jagdeep Shankar informed the house on december 8 that the timings of the house on friday have been changed to match the timings of the Lok Sabha. Normally on Fridays, proceedings in the rajya sabha would start at 2.30. However, DMK mp Tiruchi N shiva had raised a question in the house regarding the appointment at 2 o'clock this time. He informed that as per rules of procedure and conduct in the rajya sabha, an extra 30-minute lunch break will be given on Fridays to enable Muslim rajya sabha members to offer Namaz. rajya sabha sessions will be held from 11 am to 1 pm and from 2 pm to 6 pm. There will be a lunch break from 1pm to 2pm. But, only on friday, instead of 2 o'clock, the proceedings started at 2.30. Although there is no mention of it anywhere, an extra 30-minute lunch break was provided for the friday Namaz.
The DMK mp raised this question during the zero hour of the rajya sabha on Friday. On the point of order, a question was raised about the rajya sabha session starting at 2 pm. To which Dhankar replied, it has not started this friday, and it has been in practice for some time. “Hon. Members, this is not being done from today. I have done this before and the reason has been given,” he said.
Friday timings have been reset with lok sabha timings. Namaz breaks are not observed in lok sabha on Fridays. This was only the practice in the Rajya Sabha. lok sabha starts at 2 pm on all days. lok sabha and rajya sabha are both important parts of Parliament. Both stop times and timings should be consistent. As I mentioned earlier, the session starts at 2 pm on friday too. This is not today'.
Another mp of DMK, M. Mohammad Abdullah, objected to this and said, 'This is a practice that has been going on for many years. It has been going on for 60-70 years. It was fixed for the sake of Muslim MPs because of Jumma on Friday. This is a practice that has been there since the beginning.'
Dhankar said parliament has members from all communities and there should be no specific exemption for Muslim MPs. 'Both lok sabha and rajya sabha have members from all sections of society. The lok sabha will sit at 2 p.m. There are members from every department. Consciously, after due discussion, I passed it, referred it to the house and it was in force in the last session itself. It has been informed that the house will meet after lunch at 2 pm.. We should also comply with the time limit suggested by the Lok Sabha.'' After the Chairman reiterated that this time change had been implemented in the last session and had already been explained to the members, there was no objection from the members.
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