New Delhi, Mar 25 : Rajya Sabha was today adjourned sine die at the end of the Budget session of Parliament, which was mainly devoted to financial business of the government.
The session, which began on February 21 with President Pratibha Patil's customary address, had 23 sittings in all and the Upper House sat for 80 hours.
About 20 hours were lost on issues like WikiLeaks cable regarding cash-for-vote in trust vote of 2008, separate statehood for Telangana and the Supreme Court quashing appointment of the Central Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas.However, the House made up the loss by skipping lunch recesses and sitting late for more than 12 hours to complete the legislative and other business.
The budget session followed the almost complete washout of the winter session over the opposition demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the 2G Spectrum scam.The announcement of JPC was made by the government in the beginning of the budget session.
The session, which saw completion of the General Budget and the Railway Budget for 2011-12 also witnessed shifting of Question Hour from the usual 11 am to 2 PM.
This was done to "optimise the output of the Question Hour," Chairman Hamid Ansari said in his valedictory remarks before adjourning the House sine die.
He said the initial results of the change in the timing of Question Hour have been encouraging. "I have also received some feedback, which will help fine-tune the new arrangement,"Ansari said.
The Chairman thanked leaders of all political parties for "over-all smooth functioning" of the House. PTI
