Immediately on the fixation of the dates of sittings of a session of Lok Sabha,
allotment is made of the days available for the answering of questions relating
to the various Ministries of Government of India.
For this purpose the various Ministries are divided into five Groups i.e. A, B,
C, D and E and fixed days are allotted to the various groups of Ministries for answering
questions on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday respectively. There
is no Question Hour on Saturday, if a sitting is fixed for that day. Also, on the
day when the President of India addresses sitting of the two Houses assembled together
or during the period when the session is extended beyond the scheduled programme
of sittings, there is no Question Hour, unless the condition of fifteen clear days
for giving notices of questions is satisfied. The Grouping of Minstries for answering
of questions is done in such a way that each Minister has one fixed day in the week
for answering of questions in Lok Sabha and these fixed days do not clash with their
corresponding days for answering of questions in Rajya Sabha. If there is no sitting
of the House on any of the above five days on account of holiday, the questions
pertaining to the group of Ministries falling on that day are not put down for answering
during that week.
Separate lists are prepared for starred and unstarred questions which have been
admitted. Admitted questions are entered in the List of Questions for the day for
oral or written answers as the case may be, in the order of priority obtained in
ballot with the orders of the Speaker. No more than five questions are admitted
in the name of a member for each sitting of which not more than one is put down
for oral answer. While compiling the List of Unstarred Questions, in the first round,
out of the admitted questions for which notices were originally given as unstarred,
one question each of every member is put in the List according to inter se priority
obtained in the ballot barring the members whose questions have already been included
in the List of Starred Questions. Subsequently, out of the admitted questions for
which original notices were given for oral answers but could not be included in
the Starred List, one question each of every member is included in the List barring
the members whose original unstarred questions have already been included in the
Unstarred List for the day. The subsequent rounds, if necessary, are taken up subject
to the overall limit of two hundred and thirty questions. A serial number is allotted
to each question. Normally not more than twenty questions are placed on the list
of questions for oral answers and not more than two hundred and thirty questions
are placed on the list of questions for written answers on any one day. The Ministries
are supplied with the lists of finally admitted questions at least 5 days before
the date fixed for asking the questions.
To see the Grouping of Ministries for the Current Session click here.