FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: The opposition Congress on Tuesday met Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai and submitted a memorandum to him against the alleged ‘unconstitutional’ passing of 13 government bills, including the controversial Goa Bhumiputra Adhikarini Bill, during the recently concluded brief Legislative Assembly session.
The Congress delegation urged the Governor to send a message to the House to reconsider the bills with a full-fledged debate.
In the memorandum, Congress stated that various bills were passed in the Legislative Assembly without discussions and without giving advance notice and copies of the bills to the members. Also rules for conduct of business were suspended and as many as 13 bills were introduced at 4 am on the last day not even giving sufficient time i.e. 48 hours needed for introducing the bill and refusing to permit a debate due to which, the entire opposition was constrained to walk out in protest and the bills were passed and will now be sent for assent.
“These Bills do not help the common man and instead will put them in great financial loss and peril,” the memorandum said adding that such important legislations need to be debated threadbare and then be put to vote, which was not done.
The Congress also pointed out that the government has failed to hold the Assembly session even for a minimum 30 days in 2020 and 2021 till date. The Assembly session in 2020 was held for just seven days and this year so far the Assembly has sat for just 11 days.
“Elections are round the corner and it is apparent that this is vote-bank politics,” Congress said and added that the State cannot allow such important legislation to be steam-rolled which will affect the entire State as a whole.
In the Bhumiputra Adhikarini Bill, 2021 passed by the Goa Legislative Assembly, the “Financial Memorandum” clearly states that “financial Implications cannot be ascertained at this stage” and therefore it is not a Money Bill which can be refused assent.
The Congress in the memorandum stated that in terms of Article 200 of the Constitution, the Governor has three options – assent to the bill or withhold assent therefrom or reserve the bill for the consideration of the President.
Considering the fact that in the last Assembly session the government suspended the rules of the House and transacted business without allowing any discussion, it would be imperative for the Governor to invoke powers under clause (2) of Article 175 of the Constitution, and send a message to the House to reconsider the Bill with full-fledged debate.
The Congress hopes that the Governor as custodian of the Constitution will exercise wise counsel and advise the government accordingly.
The delegation comprised Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar, Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat, MLAs Luizinho Faleiro and Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, Congress legal cell chairman Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira, general secretary Janardhan Bhandari and spokesman Tulio de Souza.
