In his letter to Mukherjee and Modi, Tuki pointed out that while Article 174 of the Constitution provides for the governor to summon a session of the assembly on the aid and advice of the chief minister and his council of ministers, the governor summoned the session on the strength of Article 175(2) which was “only for a bill and not any resolution of the members of the house”.
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The Speaker made it clear that no reference to the high court can be made in the House and the Arunachal issue has already been raised.
The Lok Sabha could not carry out any meaningful business during the Question Hour today, as the Congress members resumed their protest against the government soon after the house met for the day. However 33 members attended the house chaired by Deputy Speaker TN Thondok.
Congress-led government in the state has been locked in a battle with Rajkhowa, claiming he is trying to destabilise their leadership in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Meanwhile, the issue rocked proceedings in both houses of parliament.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said such unconstitutional steps had never been taken in the country’s history. He said the centre was responsible for the stalemate in Parliament for the past few days. “The Central government is supposed to be a protector of the Constitution, instead the Centre is destroying the constitution”, he added.
Richo also stated that the Governor has considerably lowered the dignity of his office, showed lack of diligence in dealing with sensitive issues which included constitutionally convening a state assembly and this suggested his incompetence to remain at the helm of affairs. The two Articles relate to Sessions of the state legislature and the right of the Governor to address and send messages to the House.
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The court will hear the next arguments on February 2 next year. Issuing a notice, Justice Hrishikesh Roy kept in abeyance the impugned decisions including the notification issued by the Deputy Speaker restoring the membership of 14 suspended MLAs and the holding of the “session” at a new place and also the decision taken at the “session” in which the Speaker was removed.
