Breaking from the tradition the new Himachal Pradesh Governor Kalyan Singh preferred not to read the long customary speech of Governor on the opening day of Budget session here on Wednesday. He just read out a first paragraph of the 39 page long written address and said the rest of the text should be considered as “read” by him. The Governor who was given a formal welcome to the House by the Speaker and the leader of the House left the premises within minutes.
The Governor’s move left majority members of the House amazed since they had never expected this, as they told media persons later. It was considered a break from the tradition and was a new concept to many fresh members of the House, said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. But it was his prerogative and is an accepted parliamentary practice in many Assemblies, he said.
The veteran members said it was probably for the first time that the Governor had departed from the established tradition of reading the full text of his address which is also the policy statement of the government in power and is duly approved by the Cabinet. Senior Congress MLA Asha Kumari who conducted the assembly proceedings later said the members were taken by surprise since nobody had expected this but the decision of the Governor has to be acknowledged.
Leader of Opposition Prem Kumar Dhumal also said that it was Governor’s privilege to decide the duration of his customary speech. Some of the insiders in the Raj Bhavan had even said the Governor was expecting a short and condensed speech but the government was bent upon in listing its entire works of past two years in the customary addressed as had happened in the past always.
Amidst a number of achievements listed in the written speech supplied later to the media, it is mentioned that the growth rate of the State has been estimated at 6.2 per cent for the year 2013-14 against the national growth of 4.9 per cent. The per capita income at current prices is Rs. 92,300 for the year 2013-14 against Rs. 83,899 for the year 2012-13, an increase of more than 10 per cent.
Read out just one para of the Budget session speech and said rest be as deemed “read”
Considered a break from the tradition & was a new concept to many fresh members of the House
