New Delhi: The next session of the Manipur Assembly will convene on 29 August with the state Cabinet’s recommendation receiving the nod of Governor Anusuiya Uikey Tuesday, staving off a potential constitutional crisis.
The Manipur Legislative Assembly Secretariat issued an order during the day, seen by ThePrint, stating that Uikey had summoned the session at 11 am on 29 August at “assembly hall, Imphal”. The development came a day after the Manipur Cabinet sent its fresh recommendation to Uikey.
The new session will now be notified under an emergency rule of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the Manipur assembly, a secretariat official told ThePrint.
The CMO tweeted Tuesday that the cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, decided Monday to convene the next session from 29 August.
The State Cabinet chaired by Hon'ble CM N Biren Singh on Monday 21/08/2023 took a decision to convene the 4the Session of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly (Monsoon Session) on August 29, 2023.
— CMO Manipur (@manipur_cmo) August 22, 2023
With the cabinet’s previous recommendation to hold the assembly session from 21 August — sent to the governor on 4 August — not getting Uikey’s nod, the Biren Singh government strayed into uncertain territory as the next session of the House cannot begin later than 2 September.
The delay in convening the next session drew the ire of the Opposition Congress Monday, with the party’s Manipur unit calling it a “constitutional crisis” in the strife-torn state. This comes at a time when Manipur is in the grip of unprecedented ethnic violence, which has claimed over 150 lives and displaced over 50,000 people.
Hon'ble President Keisham Meghachandra briefing media on Constitutional Crisis in Manipur by BJP's Double Engine Government.@kharge @RahulGandhi @meghachandra_k @Jairam_Ramesh @BHAKTACHARANDAS @Gaikhangam2 @INCIndia pic.twitter.com/dlaYEKnQho
— INC Manipur (@INCManipur) August 21, 2023
The Biren Singh government is in a tricky position because Article 174 of the Constitution states that the “House or Houses of the Legislature of the State shall be summoned to meet twice at least in every year, and six months shall not intervene between their last sitting in one session and the date appointed for their first sitting in the next session”.
The last session of the Manipur assembly was held from 21 February to 3 March. Accordingly, its next session must commence on or before 2 September, for which the assembly secretary needs to notify the MLAs at least 15 days prior to the first day.
According to Section 4 of the Manipur Assembly Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, “The Secretary shall issue summons to each member specifying the date and place for a session of the House at least 1 [15 clear days] before the date so appointed.”
However, with the 15-day window no longer available, the government is making use of an emergency provision in the assembly rules, which waives the requirement to issue a prior notice to each member, the secretariat official, mentioned earlier, said.
“Provided that when a session is called at short notice or emergently, summons may not be issued to each member separately but an announcement of the date and place of the session shall be published in the Gazette and made in the press, and members may be informed by telegram,” the rule, which is also a part of Section 2, states.
However, the reason behind the first recommendation of the state Cabinet not receiving Uikey’s nod remains unclear. Article 163 of the Constitution requires the government to act on the “aid and advice” of the council of ministers, headed by the chief minister. However, it adds that the governor would not need the council of ministers’ aid and advice if the Constitution requires the governor to carry out any function at the his/her discretion.
Previously, 10 MLAs — including seven BJP MLAs — belonging to the Kuki-Zomi community had reportedly decided to skip any such session of the 60-member House as it is located in the Metei-dominated Imphal valley. The United Naga Council (UNC) had also asked 10 Naga MLAs to abstain from the session.
Earlier this year, in February, the Supreme Court orally remarked that the governor had no discretion to delay the Punjab Assembly budget session, on a petition filed by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. In the petition, Mann had sought the quashing of Governor Banwarilal Purohit’s decision to obtain legal advice on the Cabinet’s recommendation for him to convene the budget session on 3 March.
“In view of the clear constitutional provisions there can be no manner of doubt that the authority which is entrusted to the governor to summon the House or each House of the legislature of the state is to be exercised on the aid and advice of the council of ministers. This is not a constitutional power in which a governor is entitled to exercise his own discretion,” the court had observed orally.
Also, in a landmark 2016 judgment in the Nabam Rebia case, the apex court had ruled that “the governor can summon, prorogue and dissolve the House, only on the aid and advice of the council of ministers with the chief minister as the head. And not on his own.”
This judgment arose out of a constitutional crisis that arose in Arunachal Pradesh in 2015-16. At that time, Rebia — then the speaker of the Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly — had approached the top court after the state’s governor preponed a session of the Assembly on a joint request by 11 BJP and two independent MLAs, who had also issued a notice of resolution for removal of Rebia from the post of Speaker.
The matter reached the Supreme Court, which ruled in 2016 that ordinarily the governor can summon the House only on the aid and advice of the council of ministers, with the chief minister heading the council.
However, the court had clarified that in a situation where the governor has reasons to believe that the chief minister and her/his council of ministers have lost the confidence of the House, it would be open to him to ask the chief minister and his council of ministers to prove their majority in the House, by a floor test.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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