Will be brief session with legislative agenda
*MLAs to get day each for private bills, resolutions
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Aug 3: The Legislative Assembly session of Jammu and Kashmir is likely to be held in the middle of September in Srinagar. It will have 7-8 sittings.
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The Assembly session has to be convened before October 9. As per the Rules of Procedure, the Assembly must meet once in six months. Budget session of the Legislature was adjourned sine die on April 9 though one-day special session was held on April 28 in the wake of Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 in which 26 civilians including 25 tourists and a local were killed.
Sources said that a decision to call the Assembly session has to be taken by the Government and conveyed to the Lieutenant Governor. The LG has to call the session.
“A proposal has been mooted to call the Legislature session in the middle of September. The session will have 7-8 sittings and will last around 10 days,” the sources said, adding the Government will shift to Jammu in first week of November.
The session will have only legislative agenda. In budget session of the Legislature held in Jammu from March 3 to April 9 with around 10 days break, only one bill pertaining to Goods and Services Tax (GST) was brought by Omar Abdullah Government and was passed.
In this session, however, some bills could be introduced. A day each will be reserved for private member’s bills and private member’s resolutions. During budget session of the Legislature, last three days reserved for private member’s bills and resolutions were lost in the din caused by protests of MLAs from different parties including ruling National Conference over Waqf bill passed by the Parliament.
“Number of questions to be called from the MLAs in the session will be five each starred and un-starred. In budget session, 10 each starred and un-starred questioned are called from the legislators,” the sources said. The starred questions are debated during Question Hour while only written reply is given for un-starred questions.
Number of private member’s bills and private member’s resolutions to be submitted by the MLAs, for which a day each will be reserved, will be decided by the Speaker once duration of the session is finalized.
The Parliament as well as most of the States have three sessions in a year including budget, Monsoon and winter sessions. However, the Jammu and Kashmir Legislature has only two sessions-budget session in Jammu and one brief session in Srinagar. The process has been going on for past many years now.
The practice is being followed as the Government rotates to Jammu for six months of winter and Srinagar for six months of summer. Earlier, the Civil Secretariat also used to move to Jammu and Srinagar but the practice was abandoned in 2021.
However, Omar Abdullah Government has announced that it will restore the practice of Durbar Move.
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