Manipur’s law minister Th Basanta Kumar Singh dismissed Congress’s claims on Tuesday regarding constitutional rule violations by not holding the winter session of the Assembly.
He explained that Article 174 of the Constitution requires state legislatures to convene at least twice yearly, with no more than six months between sessions. He said that both Budget and Autumn sessions had already taken place this year.
“Manipur Congress’s allegation that rules of the Constitution has been violated is false. During the chief ministership of O Ibobi Singh from 2002 to 2016, there have been five occasions when assembly sessions were held twice in a calendar year. There is no question of violating constitutional provisions by the BJP-led government in the state,” he said.
Kumar’s statement was in response to CLP leader O Ibobi Singh’s recent accusations that the BJP-led government had breached constitutional requirements by not holding the winter assembly session.
“The state government has always made efforts to implement the mandatory provisions of the Constitution and rules framed by the Manipur Legislative Assembly. It is pertinent to mention that in normal times, the government had always summoned the House three times, from 2017 to 2020,” Th Basanta Kumar Singh said.
“Following COVID outbreak pandemic in 2021 and the unfortunate incident of May 3, 2023, the state government could not fulfill the conditions provided in the rules due to unavoidable circumstances and hardship faced by people during this period,” the minister added.
Meanwhile, Kumar while addressing a separate issue regarding the Board of Secondary Education Manipur (BOSEM) employees’ pen-down strike following Akham Joykumar Singh’s appointment as chairman, said that the appointment was made following proper procedures.
“There were five applicants for the post and after examination of the eligibility criteria, Joykumar was appointed as chairman,” he said. He urged the striking employees to resume work, considering students’ interests.
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