This occurred a few days after two men used smoke bomb canisters to get past security and enter the Lok Sabha.
The Union Home Ministry requested that state governments submit nominations for senior civil personnel by December 20th, with the exception of union territories, Goa, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh.
Since Raghubir Lal’s transfer in November, the position has been empty for about two months.
Why is this story important?
Concerns have been raised about the much-vaunted steps adopted to protect the safety of the senior political leaders following last week’s security breach in the Parliament building.
On Wednesday, December 13, two people, Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D, leaped from the visitors’ gallery into the Lok Sabha chamber while yelling anti-government slogans and detonating smoke bombs.
Neelam Azad and Amol Shinde, two more demonstrators, held a parallel protest outside the Parliament before being taken into custody.
A security breach at the Lok Sabha raises concerns.
Concerns concerning the new Parliament building’s security protocols—which are allegedly more stringent than those of the previous complex—were raised by the two security lapses.
Remarkably, Sharma and Manoranjan escaped five stages of smoke canister inspection by concealing them in specially designed shoes.
On the request of the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) launched an investigation into the issue in the interim.
Narendra Modi, the prime minister, had earlier called the security lapse “unfortunate” and “worrisome.”
Issue of visitor passes and examination of background checks
The issuance of visiting passes and background checks on candidates were scrutinised after the occurrence.
Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla established a “high-powered committee” to examine security procedures and create a strategy to stop these kinds of things from happening.
The opposition, meanwhile, has called for action against Prathap Simha, the Mysuru BJP MP, whose office provided the visitor credentials to the two demonstrators.
The demand, which Birla rejected, was for statements on the subject from either Prime Minister Modi or Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
79 opposition members of parliament have been barred.
In addition to the four demonstrators, the attack’s mastermind Lalit Jha and accomplice Mahesh Kumawat have been taken into custody.
On Monday, 79 opposition MPs were suspended for allegedly organising protests and engaging in “misconduct,” according to sources.
For the duration of the Parliament Winter Session, at least 33 MPs from the Lok Sabha and 35 from the Rajya Sabha—among them Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury—were suspended.
11 more Rajya Sabha members are still on suspension pending the findings from the Privileges Committee.