No privilege notice against Irani: Kurien

There is no privilege notice against HRD Minister Smriti Irani, Chairman of Rajya Sabha’s Privileges Committee PJ Kurien said on Thursday, dismissing reports that the panel decided to seek explanation from her over some remarks made during a House debate on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) row.

Addressing the media a day after the Committee members had met in the Parliament House, he said it was “not a meeting” of the committee as it did not meet the quorum requirement of at least five committee attending it.

“We met but five members were not present. So it was not a committee meeting. Moreover, there is no notice of privilege against Irani before the committee. So it is wrong to say that the panel has decided to seek an explanation from her over her remarks. There is no such decision,” he said.

“Yesterday there was no meeting. There was some informal discussion. Whatever we informally said has been reported by the media as a decision of the committee. A member saying something is not a decision of the committee,” Kurien said.

He said a notice of CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury regarding his having received threat calls after participating in a debate on JNU row is under consideration of the committee.

In his letter to the Rajya Sabha Chairman last month, the CPI-M leader had written that the minister had made “baseless allegations” against him "imputing motives that are completely false".