SHWETA KAMAT
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PANJIM: The short duration of Goa Legislative Assembly session has killed the very purpose of a healthy debate in democracy as in four years – ever since Chief Minister Pramod Sawant took over the reins of the State in March 2019 – Goa’s 40 elected lawmakers have worked on an average for just 15 days a year.
A detailed analysis shows the shrinking graph of the Goa Legislative Assembly since March 2019 till date, with the House meeting only for 59 days which includes some single day or a five-day sitting to meet the Constitutional obligations. A Budget session 2023-24 is now scheduled from March 27 with four-day sitting.
Experts feel that since the Indian Constitution does not stipulate the number of days that a legislative assembly should meet, the same mandate has been misused. They also feel that the short-duration of the Assembly session has killed the very purpose of healthy debate in democracy.
Like Parliament, an assembly usually meets thrice-Budget, Monsoon and a Winter Session- a year. The data, as available on the Goa Legislative Assembly website, shows that it was only in 2019 (since Sawant-led government came to power) – House had a maximum 22 days sitting that included one-day session in March wherein Sawant had to prove his majority followed by another single day session in June to elect the Goa Assembly Speaker. The Monsoon session held in July-August was the longest with MLAs meeting on 20 days.
In 2020, the number of sitting days was just 07 while in 2021 it was 13. This might be due to the impact of the Covid pandemic and consequent lockdowns.
In view of the General Assembly elections held in February 2022, the Legislative Assembly did not meet for the Winter sitting. That year, it had only two sessions- Budget (3 days) and Monsoon session (10 days).
In these four years, the House met for just a single day on four different occasions- twice each in 2019 and 2020.
During this period, a total of 112 government bills were passed while 166 calling attention were raised. Also 20 private members resolutions also came up in four years.
Speaking to O Heraldo, Goa Legislative Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar said that there is a need to increase the sitting of the House to ensure that every MLA gets opportunity to raise people’s issues. “On my request, the Government agreed for a 25 days Monsoon Session last year; however the same was curtailed in view of panchayat polls. This time, I have again told the CM that the Monsoon Session must go on for a month,” he said.
For healthy discussions, debates and equal participation, it is important that we hold Assembly sessions of longer duration, the Speaker added.
Former Speaker and longest serving ex-MLA Pratapsingh Rane said that there is a need for the House to meet for a minimum of 180 days a year. “Assembly is a place where people’s difficulties, issues, concerns, are raised, discussed and a solution is worked out. As you curtail the session, you are killing public issues. I feel the citizens need to wake up and raise their voices against frequent curtailment of the sessions,” he said.
Rane said, “People should decide whether they want such a government, who has no time to listen to their grievances or what”.
Former Law Commissioner Ramakant Khalap said that the State government is getting away with the mandate of Indian Constitution, which says that not more than six months should pass between sessions. “This mandate of the Constitution seems to have been misused by the Government as well as the State Assembly,” he said.
Khalap also pointed out that the Constitution does not mention even the minimum number of days that State assemblies must meet in a year. “Hence, they are at liberty to hold sessions as per their choice,” he said.
Former Speaker Tomazinho Cardozo said that curtailment of sessions is against the consent of democracy. “Assembly sessions are the only weapon for those in the non-ruling side to raise people’s issues and corner the government. This opportunity is denied to them,” he said.
