Delhi: Slamming the AAP government for wrong practices which had been followed during the past 10 years, Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijendra Gupta on Tuesday assured that the Assembly will no longer hold part sessions, unlike the previous AAP regime. Instead, sessions will be duly prorogued, and special sessions will only be called in emergency situations.
Addressing a press conference after the first session of the eight Assembly, Speaker Gupta said now all the sessions will be duly prorogued. “The practice of holding sessions in part for the whole year will not be followed. Special sessions will be called only in emergent and important situations. The sessions of the Assembly are very important. There will be Question Hour in the Budget session a practice which had been almost done away by the previous government,” he said.
“However, in case Rules are violated, strict action will be taken. Maximum utilisation of the floor time shall be his primary concern. The House shall run with cooperation, balance, goodwill and established Rules,” he said.
The first session of the 8th Delhi Assembly, which commenced on February 24, was adjourned sine die on March 3. The session saw heated exchanges between BJP and AAP MLAs, particularly on the last day. During the five sittings, 126 members expressed their views on various issues, with the House conducting business for 18 hours and 18 minutes.
Defending his action against AAP MLAs for suspending for the three days and not allowed to enter in the Assembly premises, Speaker Gupta expressed anguish over the unruly action and disturbance to Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena’s address to the House, an action that forced him to suspend Opposition members.
“The LG’s address is a solemn occasion and he was discharging his constitutional duties. The Rules of Procedure forbid such disturbances during the LG Address. The members were later suspended by the House for three sittings for disturbing the LG’s address,” he said.
Speaker Gupta said that he was pained by the fact that Leader of Opposition Atishi and her AAP colleagues disturbed the proceedings when she was asked to speak on my election as the Speaker. Reflecting on the just-concluded Assembly session, Speaker Gupta said, “The CAG’s ‘Performance Audit Report on Regulation and Supply of Liquor in Delhi’ was laid on the Table of the House on February 25 by Chief Minister and it was discussed in the House for two days. A total of 23 members participated in this discussion.”
Gupta said that the House committees, including the Public Accounts Committee, of the newly constituted Delhi Assembly will be formed in the Budget Session to be held on March 24-26. The Excise and Health departments have been directed to send their action-taken reports within a month,” he said.
Speaker Gupta said tabling of two CAG reports on the Delhi government’s performance in the House was just a beginning. “In the coming days, very significant decisions will be made by the House regarding the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India reports tabled in the House. He also announced plans to turn the Old Secretariat building into a national monument or tourist attraction, and to implement the e-Vidhan project to make the Assembly paperless.
