PANJIM: For the first time in the history of Goa Assembly, the newly elected MLAs will be sworn in as members of the House when they don’t know who the new Chief Minister is going to be.
By an order dated March 12, the Governor has summoned the first session of the Eighth Legislative Assembly at 11.30 am on Tuesday, March 15 wherein the newly elected MLAs will take oath. Sanvordem MLA Ganesh Gaonkar, who has been appointed as Pro-tem Speaker, will administer oath to the newly elected MLAs.
Caretaker Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday said that the new government will be formed after Holi, which falls on Friday. When asked whether the swearing of new MLAs before the formation of new government would lead to a constitutional crisis, he said that the newly elected MLAs would be sworn-in on March 15.
The term of the present Legislative Assembly expires on Tuesday, March 15 and per the convention a new government is formed before the end of the present Assembly.
When contacted, former Advocate General and MLA-elect Carlos Alvares Ferreira said that as the present Legislative Assembly has been dissolved by the Governor and Sawant has been asked to continue as caretaker Chief Minister, the latter has no right to continue because the single largest party has to elect its leader and stake claim to form the new government.
Ferreira said that the Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai cannot abrogate his responsibility to invite the single largest party to stake claim to form the new government. The continuance of Sawant as interim Chief Minister in such circumstances, he said, is not proper though technically it is not unconstitutional.
“This precedent is faulty, though there is nothing written in the Constitution. It is only matter of precedence followed,” Ferreira said.
Meanwhile, Section 144 of the CrPC has been clamped within a radius of 500 metres around the Goa Assembly complex at Porvorim, in view of the convening of the Eighth Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.
