New Delhi, Nov 30 : The Rajya Sabha was adjourned early Monday evening as Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was not available to reply to the debate on a bill that had been introduced in the pre-lunch session.

The house adjourned at 4 p. m. against its normal rising at 5-5.30 p. m.

Pawar was to reply to the Legal Metrology Bill 2008 that seeks to establish and enforce standards of weights and measures, regulate trade and commerce in weights and measures and other goods which are sold or distributed by weight, measure or number.

As the debate on the bill ended, Pawar was in the Lok Sabha participating in the debate on natural calamities and thus could not leave the house.

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned twice in the pre-lunch session after the opposition, led by Left MPs, protested the dispatch of a central team to communist-ruled West Bengal to study the law and order situation in the state in the wake of inter-party clashes.

Calm was restored only after Home Minister P. Chidambaram assured West Bengal that it was not in confrontation with the state government but only intended to cooperate with it to control inter-party clashes and bring the law and order situation under control.

"I am in constant touch with the chief minister. We have a good working relationship. We are both committed to working together to ensure law and order is maintained and inter-party clashes don't take place," Chidambaram maintained.(IANS)