Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 1: Budget session of the Legislature, which was hanging in balance after collapse/cracks in portion of Assembly complex, would start on February 28 with Legislative Assembly being held at Central Hall of Legislature while Governor NN Vohra would address the Joint Session at Zorawar Singh auditorium.
Legislative Assembly Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone told the Excelsior that a tentative plan has been worked out for holding the Legislature session in consultations with Chairman of the Legislative Council Amrit Malhotra and the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry.
“As the Legislative Assembly building has been rendered unsafe, we have decided to convert Central Hall of Legislature, where the Governor used to address Joint Session of Legislature, into the Assembly complex. The Hall would have every requisite facility required for the Assembly including the galleries for media, officers and VIPs etc besides the chambers of the Presiding Officers, the Chief Minister and other Ministers”, Mr Lone said.
He added that a process to convert Central Hall of Legislature would be sent into motion after getting a nod of the proposal from Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on his return here followed by the Cabinet approval.
“As soon as we get the mandatory approval, the work would begin to convert Central Hall of Legislature into the Assembly complex”, the Speaker said, adding the process would take time but, in any case, it would be ready before February 28.
The budget session would start on February 28 with Governor’s Address to Joint Session of Legislature, which would be held at Zorawar Singh Auditorium in Jammu University. The Governor’s Address generally begins at 10.30 am and lasts about an hour or so. After the Governor’s Address, both Houses of the Legislature would meet for obituary reference.
As the experts have declared the Legislative Council safe, it would meet at its own complex while the Assembly would start sitting at the Central Hall of Legislature after being converted into the Assembly complex, Mr Lone said.
The Speaker said the proposal would be put forth before the Chief Minister, who would take it to Cabinet. “After receiving the Cabinet’s nod, the work would start into conversion of the Central Hall of Legislature into the Assembly complex”, he added.
He said it would be a full-fledged budget session of more than a month with 25 to 26 sittings. Though the session would start late by about a week as compared to last year when it had set off on February 22, the budget would be passed either on March 25 or 26 to ensure that the Legislative Council approved it the next day and the Governor’s assent to Appropriation bill was received well before March 31, he added.
The Speaker said the private member’s bills and resolutions for which two days each would be fixed in the budget session would be taken up in April after the financial business was approved, which was mandatory before March 31.
“As it would be full fledged budget session, all Departments would be debated and discussed after presentation of budget by Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather”, Mr Lone said. The budget would be presented in first week of March.
The Governor would issue notification for convening budget session of Legislature on or before January 28. The notification had to be issued a month before the start of the session to give time to the legislators to submit 10 questions each in starred and un-starred category besides the resolutions and bills in addition to Call Attention Notices.
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