PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa has directed the State government to inform the court of its stand in view of the Supreme Court judgments making it mandatory to convene a Session of the Legislative Assembly within six months of its last sitting.
The division bench comprising Justices F M Reis and Nutan Sardessai has sought a reply by February 27, which comes in response to a petition filed by Advocate Aires Rodrigues seeking directions to the State to comply with the mandate of Article 174 of the Indian Constitution by either summoning a session or dissolving the Goa Legislative Assembly.
Drawing the Court’s attention that the last Assembly session was held on August 31, 2016, Rodrigues pointed out to the Law Department’s file noting in November 2016 about summoning a session and thereafter on January 6, 2017 opining that the Assembly needs to be dissolved.
“But the government had just been sitting on the advice given by the Law Department. Surprisingly there was no proposal by the government to convene a session as required under the Constitution though it was duty bound to ensure that the constitutional mandate is followed,” he said in the petition.
He further stated that the continuation of the Legislative Assembly without its meeting in compliance with Article 174 of the Constitution would not only be a travesty of the Constitutional mandate but also an absolute breakdown of the Constitutional scheme.
