PMO to check queries on Advisory Council

The UPA government has decided that all Parliamentary questions relating to the National Advisory Council and National Common Minimum Programme will be overseen by the Prime Minister’s Office.

With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s approval, the Cabinet Secretariat sent a note to all ministries (on October 8) stating that while the PMO will be directly handling Parliamentary questions on NAC, those on the CMP will be tackled by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

The PMO note further said that Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Oscar Fernandes, would in turn pass on the relevant questions to the appropriate ministry or department, depending on the subject of the query.

Sources said the responsibility of replying to parliamentary questions had to be formally decided as Sonia Gandhi, who chairs the NAC, is not a minister in the Union Cabinet.