Bhubaneswar: Odisha Assembly’s current Winter Session, which began on December 1, lasted only 10 days, including holidays.
A day after the House was adjourned sine die, the Opposition put the entire blame on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro.
As the ruling BJD and Opposition BJP-Congress locked horns over various issues — a discussion on the Mamita Meher murder case and dismissal of Minister of State for Home Dibya Shankar Mishra being the main Opposition demands in the Winter Session — the 16th Odisha Assembly convened for just 31 days in a year.
The Winter Session was adjourned sine die on Friday 20 days ahead of schedule.
According to data, the 14th and 15th Odisha Assembly also saw several adjournments but the curtailment was in the 4-12 days range. In the 16th Odisha Assembly, the curtailment was in the 20-30 days range.
On Saturday, Opposition BJP MLAs met Governor Ganeshi Lal and strongly protested the Speaker’s decision. The Opposition had accorded top priority to a discussion on the Mamita Meher murder case but it was not allowed, the BJP complained.
BJP leader and Deputy Leader of Opposition Bishnu Sethi said that the Speaker’s decision had created a Constitutional crisis.
The BJP said that in the last three years, the Odisha Assembly convened for only eight sessions and the House conducted business for only 112 days, instead of the stipulated nine sessions and 180 working days.
The Odisha Legislative Assembly should mandatorily sit for a minimum of 60 days in a calendar year. “Every calendar year the assembly shall have not less than three sessions with minimum of 60 sitting days,” says Rule 11 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in OLA.
Ever since Naveen Patnaik’s BJD came to power in March 2000, the state legislature has fulfilled the 60-days-a-year norm only on three occasions: 2006, 2010 and 2012, according to an official document.
In the remaining years it has ranged between a minimum of 41 days in 2016 and 58 days in 2004. In 2019, it sat for 50 days.
There was a time when the norm was to hold the Assembly for a minimum 90 days in a year. It was brought down to 60 days.
Ever since First Pre-Independent Assembly was formed on February 3, 1937, the House has rarely assembled for 60 days in a year, not to speak of 90 days. In fact, going by legislative records, the Odisha House has in its history fulfilled the 60-day-a-year norm only a dozen times: 1952, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1972, 2006, 2010 and 2012.
