Jharkhand Assembly speaker, Rabindra Nath Mahato on Wednesday convened a high level meeting ahead of Budget Session. Speaker on the occasion issued some directives asking departmental staff and officers for early replies of 1500 pending questions asked in the House.
The Speaker said that there are more than 1500 questions asked by legislators are pending in the House. He said, “This practice is not good in Parliamentary democracy, asking concerned departmental officers and staff to prepare replies to the query and provide these replies to concerned lawmakers so that ministers can reply to queries in the House.”
The speaker meeting was also attended by Parliamentary affairs minister Alamgir Alam and other senior officers. The speaker on the occasion also directed the DGP and secretaries of all departments present in the meeting to ensure smooth convening of the budget session.
The Jharkhand Assembly budget session will commence on February 26 and will run till March 23 which includes 16 working days. On the first day of the budget session there will be the Governor’s address on February 26, the next two days (February 27 and 28) will be no working days. The Hemant Soren government will table its second budget on March .
On the issue of Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the House, the speaker refused to say much stating that the matter is sub-judice in High Court. However, the Speaker said, “If the Opposition party comes up with another name for Leader of Opposition post he will be accorded the LoP post.”
The Speaker also said that according to the Constitution, the Speaker only decides on it. “We had also given notice but the parties concerned went to the High Court and the Supreme Court. The matter is also going on in my tribunal. Likewise, it is too late. I wish there was a decision on this soon,” added the Speaker.
The BJP has been demanding LoP status to Babulal Marandi since he switched sides to BJP merging his party JVM after 2019 election. The BJP has been raising the issue for the past one year in the Assembly. The BJP has even knocked the High Court and Supreme Court doors demanding LoP status to Marandi.
The Speaker on the occasion also directed officers to follow Covid protocol during the Budget session. The Assembly secretariat recently issued guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SoP) for those attending the session.
None of the MLAs or officers will be allowed to attend the budget session of Jharkhand assembly without undergoing a coronavirus test. The MLAs have been asked to submit their report 72 hours ahead of the commencement of the session.
Journalists covering the Assembly session will also need to take Covid-19 tests and will only be allowed after a positive report. Sanitizers face masks and face shields will be available for the MLAs. The personal staff of the MLAs will not be allowed beyond entrance points of the house. Moreover, if any MLA is found suffering from Covid-19 then as per the protocol, the concerned MLA can assign his question to another MLA and he or she has to inform the Assembly secretariat 24 hours before the session.