JAMMU, Sept 24: The UT Cabinet today gave nod for convening brief Assembly session in Srinagar from October 13, a fortnight before culmination of deadline for the Legislature to meet leaving the Assembly Secretariat with no option but to relax one-month deadline to seek questions, private member’s bills and resolutions from the MLAs to 10 or 15 days.
“It will be a brief session and may last around a week till October 20,” official sources told the Excelsior.
An official statement issued after the Cabinet meeting made no mention of the Assembly session or other decisions but said several important decisions pertaining to governance and development were taken at the meeting chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. All other five Ministers besides Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo were present.
“During the meeting, the Cabinet took up a series of agenda items concerning public welfare, administrative efficiency and developmental priorities across Jammu and Kashmir,” the statement said.
Sources, however, said the Cabinet gave nod to convening the Legislature from October 13, two percent pending House Rent Allowance (HRA) to the UT Government employees with effect from 1.1.2024, time-scale promotion to JKAS officers and expediting relief and restoration works in flood-affected areas of Jammu and Kashmir, among other items on the agenda.
The Cabinet had detailed discussions on the ongoing relief, rehabilitation and restoration operations in the aftermath of heavy floods and rains in Jammu and Kashmir especially the Jammu region where over 150 people were killed and nearly 30 are still missing. The UT Government is gearing up for submitting detailed assessment of damages to the Government of India for seeking package.
However, the items cleared by the Cabinet are sent to the Lieutenant Governor for approval.
Once approved by the Lieutenant Governor, the Legislative Assembly Speaker has to issue calendar for the session including dates on which the House will meet.
“The Assembly session has been finalized taking into account festival season in October. It has been called in the days falling between Karva Chouth and Diwali and is expected to last till October 20, a day before Diwali festival,” the sources said, adding the House may have seven to eight sittings.
The Assembly Secretariat will have to relax one-month timeline for seeking questions, private member’s bills and resolutions from the MLAs as notification will be issued only after the Lieutenant Governor’s approval leaving 10 or 15 days for inviting queries from the members.
However, this is within the domain of the Speaker, the sources said.
The Assembly session had to be convened before October 28 as last session of the Legislature was held on April 28, which was a one-day special session on Pahalgam terror attack.
This will be third regular Assembly session of Omar Abdullah Government which will complete one year in office next month. First session was held in first week of November last year lasting just 4 days in Srinagar.
Budget session of the Legislature was held in Jammu from March 3 to April 9 this year with nearly 10 days break on Eid festival. A special one-day session of the Legislature was held on April 28 in the wake of April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 25 tourists and a local were killed.
Issues of damages caused in floods, landslides and rains in the Jammu region, detention of AAP MLA from Doda Mehraj Malik under Public Safety Act (PSA), restoration of Statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and increasing share of general category in Government jobs and educational institutions by reducing reservation in some other categories, are expected to figure in the Legislature, among other issues.
In this session, however, some bills could be introduced as only one bill was tabled and passed during the budget session. 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 questions 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.
