The Parliamentary panel meetings can start but with members maintaining a distance of 6 feet from each other, the Lok Sabha Secretariat said.
“Ministry/Departments appearing before the committee may be advised to restrict the number of officials to a maximum of five,” the notification reads.
The new notification also demands that the circulation of documents, if and when should be in soft copy format which essentially means it will be e-mailed with an attachment to the Members of Parliament.
Parliamentary panels call different officials before them for clarifications. Now they cannot carry bags or files along with them, either, according to the new notification.
As per the new rules, before entering the premises all members will be given sanitisers to clean their hands of any germs.
Reconvening such panel meets has been a longstanding demand as they were on a halt due to the spread of deadly coronavirus in the country.
Even requests for virtual meetings were turned down by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu.