Tuesday’s session of the 15th Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly will create a record of sorts, as the House is expected to pass demands for grants to a total of 27 government departments in a single day.
This will beat the feat it had achieved in 2004, when it passed demands for grants to 24 departments in one day.
Soon after the Business Advisory Committee, chaired by Speaker P. Dhanapal, decided on Monday to wind up the already re-scheduled Assembly session within a day, instructions were swiftly passed on from the Assembly Secretariat to the 27 departments concerned, asking them to submit their respective policy notes before 4 p.m. on Monday.
The Business Advisory Committee decided to wind up the session early, soon after Opposition legislators belonging to the DMK, the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League announced a boycott of the session in view of the COVID-19 outbreak.
“So far, policy notes from 20 departments have come in. We will receive policy notes from other departments soon,” an official said on Monday.
As per the Practice and Procedure of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly (Serial number 34 on financial business), “whenever demand is moved by the Minister, he will lay the policy notes before the Assembly”.
Similar routine
Though the demands of 27 departments would be taken up on Tuesday, there wouldn’t be much of a change to the routine.
“The House proceedings would be the same as when three to four departments are clubbed together in one day. Instead of three to four departments, there would be 27 departments,” he said.
Just like during any other day, the Ministers concerned would move their respective demands, and legislators would get to speak on the demands for all 27 departments, which would be passed by voice vote at the end of the day.
Tuesday would mark the first time in over 15 years that demands from a large number of departments are passed in the House.
In one go, the demands of 24 departments were passed by the House on July 31, 2004, during the erstwhile AIADMK regime, when Jayalalithaa was the Chief Minister and C. Ponnaiyan (currently vice-chairperson of the State Planning Commission) was the Finance Minister.
