Kolkata: With the state Budget session set to begin on February 10, Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay on Friday expressed regret that several Bills sent to the Raj Bhawan for the Governor’s assent remain pending, moreover no recommendations have been sent to the Assembly on any of them.
The Speaker said: “Many Bills were pending with the Raj Bhawan. We had also sent a list of such Bills. It is the responsibility of the Raj Bhawan to inform us about their opinion on these Bills after their review. However, we have not been informed about the status of these Bills.
If they have any recommendations they can send them to us. A long time ago, the Raj Bhawan had sent a recommendation. We send a copy of the Bills to Raj Bhawan with English translation as soon as they are passed in the Assembly.”
The Speaker also said that the Budget session will begin on February 10 with Governor C V Ananda Bose’s inaugural address, marking a return of the tradition after a one-year gap. Last year, the Budget session had no Governor’s speech and the session had only been reconvened after an adjournment sine die (indefinite).The Speaker said Governor Bose has confirmed that he would attend the opening session. A formal invitation had been sent to the Governor’s office earlier. The West Bengal Budget will be presented on February 12 by Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya. An all-party meeting was convened on Friday but there was no representation from the BJP.
“An all-party meeting and a Business Advisory (BA) Committee meeting were held. Only Nawsad Siddique (ISF MLA) from the Opposition attended. Both the ruling party and the Opposition party are urged so that the Budget session can be carried out peacefully,” the Speaker said. He also regretted that BJP MLAs never attended BA committee meetings to discuss important issues.
The Speaker also gave a detailed outline of the Budget session. On February 10, the discussion will take place on the Governor’s speech. An obituary proposal will be brought on Feb 11 and a separate resolution will also be brought for the demise of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Budget will be tabled on Feb 12 and discussion on the Governor’s speech on Feb 13 and 17. The session will continue till Feb 19.
