Puducherry Assembly likely to be convened on February 23

The proposal has been sent to the Lt. Governor for approval

Speaker R. Selvam inspecting work under way at the Puducherry Legislative Assembly ahead of the session next week. | Photo Credit: S.S. Kumar

The second session of the 15^th Legislative Assembly of Puducherry is likely to be held on February 23.

As per the norms, the Assembly has to be convened once in six months. The first session was held in August last year to present the Annual Budget, and as per established procedures, the House has to be convened before March 2.

“The Assembly Secretariat has proposed holding a short duration session on February 23. The file has gone to the Raj Nivas for the Lieutenant Governor’s approval. It is conventional to meet every six months. The session could be held even for a day,” an official told The Hindu.

The Budget session of the Assembly could be held later, a ruling party member said, adding that this time the government would present a full budget rather than rely on vote-on-account. If the government goes ahead with its plan, the Union Territory will have a full Budget at the beginning of the fiscal itself after a long time.

For several years, the incumbent governments had presented first a vote-on-account, and after the first four months of the financial year, presented a full Budget.

New Assembly building

Meanwhile, a delegation of legislators is expected to visit the Legislative Assembly complexes in Goa and Uttarakhand. The legislators wanted to check the facilities available in the new Assemblies in the two States before giving their suggestion for the construction of a Legislative Assembly building in the Union Territory.

The Assembly Secretariat had given preliminary inputs to the Public Works Department for the proposed building. The Secretariat had envisaged a plan where the floor of the proposed building could accommodate 70 legislators and house the offices for at least 10 Ministers. The present Assembly can only house 33 members (including 3 nominated) and the offices of five Ministers, excluding the Chief Minister’s Office.

“We want to increase the seating capacity of the new Assembly taking into account future needs,” said an official in the Assembly Secretariat. “The PWD is working towards floating a tender to select a consultant to prepare a detailed project report. The proposals are with the Chief Minister’s Office now,” said the official.