The Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die on Tuesday. In his concluding remarks, the Chairman Mohd. Hamid Ansari said that while 17 government bills were passed and important issues were discussed, over 13 hours were lost due to interruptions and adjournments. <br/><br/>He said that the question hour was lost on five days due to interruptions and the members need to think about this because questions in the house are important way in which information can be sought and government’s accountability is ensured. Mohammed Ansari said that a significant achievement of the session was the decision to streamline the question hour procedure to give wider opportunities to the members to raise questions.<br/><br/>Earlier, the House passed the Civil Defence (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to expand the role of Civil Defence to also deal with disaster management. The House also passed the Salaries and allowances of Ministers (Amendment) Bill, 2009. The Commercial Division of High Courts Bill, 2009 was referred to the Select Committee, which has been asked to report back to the house within six weeks.