The Fact News Service
Chandigarh, September 24
Bir Devinder Singh, former deputy speaker, of Punjab Vidhan Sabha reacted to the statement to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Governor Banwarilal Purohit asking for listing business of the upcoming Vidhan Sabha Session.
“An absurd statement of the Chief Minister Punjab Bhagwant Mann diminishing the constitutional authority and the statutory role of the Governor, under Article 174 (1) of the Indian constitution is seemingly completely lacking of knowledge. The Indian constitution unambiguously defines the authority of the State Governor in summoning the House of Legislature of the State. Article 174 (1) of the Indian Constitution, accentuates as follows; “174 (1) The Governor shall from time to time summon the House or each House of the Legislature of the State to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit, but six months shall not intervene between its last sitting in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session,” stated Bir Devinder Singh.
Singh said that the assertion of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in the matter manifests his downright ignorance.
“The Chief Minister upholds the fantasy in his illusionary mind that the permission of the Governor to call the Session of the Legislative assembly is a mere formality; whereas it’s a mandatory constitutional requirement.
Bhagwant Mann and Rajya Sabha Member Raghav Chadha both are boorishly misinterpreting the constitutional provisions of the law and the rules of procedure and conduct of business in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, without even reading the relevant portions of the rule book, that relate to the Business Advisory Committee of the House,” he added.
“The role of the Business Advisory Committee of the House, as defined under rule 208 and rule 210 (1) (2) and (3) (Page-117,118) of the Rules of procedure and conduct of business in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha is limited to arrange the business before the house, sequence wise, date wise and also allotting the time slots for the discussion of each item on the agenda. The BAC may also fix a day and time for the transaction of the Non-Official Business, if any, with the consent of the Hon’ble Speaker, But the Business Advisory Committee of the House, certainly does not create ‘Business’ for the House, Its is the duty of the Government to provide business to the ‘House of Legislature’ where either the legislative scrutiny is required or the fresh legislation or amendments to the existing legislations enacted by the State legislature, are required and as such it is entirely the domain of the State Government to bring business before the House, it is neither the BAC nor of the Speaker of the House who come in the picture as for the official business before the house is concerned,” former deputy speaker asserted.
He further said that the statement made by MP Raghav Chadha on Twitter on the matter does not hold any ground.
“A highly ridiculous statement of Raghav Chadha MP posted on Twitter; asserting that legislative business is the exclusive domain of the Business Advisory Committee of the House and the Speaker, does not hold any tangible ground. Furthermore, it was quite an amusing assertion of Chadha to say that “Whether it’s inflation or the ‘Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives’ the legislative business is the exclusive domain of the Business Advisory Committee of the House and the Speaker, not the Governor”. This kind of rubbish expression seemingly has further eroded the trust of the Governor in the genuineness of Bhagwant Mann’s Government, transacting any significantly consequential business in the proposed session of the Assembly.
Raghav Chadha should swallow in his mind the bare fact, that the Legislative Assembly Session is a serious legislative exercise and its nuance is entirely different, from that of a ‘comical cake walking on the ramp at Lakme Fashion Show” he further noted.
