Nearly a month after the Goa elections were held, a special session of the state Assembly was convened today to fulfil a constitutional requirement.
After the brief session, that lasted for about 15 minutes, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said it was held to fulfil the constitutional requirement.
He also said that some "self-proclaimed constitutional experts" forced them to call for the session, at a time when the election for the new state Assembly has already been held.
"Today's was a technical session. When the fate of the next government has been sealed in EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines), convening session by the earlier government was against the Constitution, I would say, rather," Parsekar told reporters while emerging from the House after the session.
"That is why I was not for it (calling the session). But there are some self-proclaimed constitutional experts who forced us to call for the session to fulfil the technicalities of constitutional requirement," he said, indirectly hinting at the petition filed by social activist Aires Rodrigues in the Goa Bench of Bombay High Court.
"When fate of new government is sealed, it would be a mockery of election and democracy if we raise any issue on the floor. We had no intention of taking any business. Governor will address the Assembly again when new government will be in power," Parsekar said.
Rodrigues had earlier sought directions to the Goa government to comply with the mandate of Article 174 of the Constitution by either summoning a session or dissolving the Goa Legislative Assembly.
Drawing the court's attention that the last session of the Goa Legislative Assembly was on August 31, 2016, Rodrigues pointed out that the Law department had in November last year moved a file for summoning the session and on January 6, 2017 had also opined that the Assembly needed to be dissolved.
The election for the 40-member Assembly was held on February 4 and the counting is scheduled on March 11.
Meanwhile, Goa Governor Mridula Sinha refrained from making any policy statement in her address to the special session of the state Assembly, owing to the model code of conduct being currently in force in the state.
"The need for summoning of this session was to comply with the Constitution of India mandate of the Article 174 (1) as per which there should not be a gap of more than six months between two sittings," the Governor told the House.
"The last session was held on August 31, 2016, and therefore, by meeting today the constitutionallimit of six months have been complied with," she added.
Meanwhile, Congress questioned the timing of National Anthem played in the House today, just when the Leader of Opposition was about to speak.
"Look at the timing of playing the National Anthem. When
Leader of Opposition Pratapsinh Rane stood up to raise an issue, the National Anthem was played," Congress Legislature Party spokesman Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco told reporters after coming out of the Assembly hall.
When contacted, Assembly Speaker Anant Shet said the session was held as per the agenda and the rules did not allow Leader of Opposition to make any mention in the House.
The Congress party, however, was upset over the conduct of the House.
"It's a shame on part of the government to have (convened) the Assembly like this. The opposition leader was trying to say something, they played National Anthem. Just imagine why and what this government is doing...The timing of the National Anthem was wrong," Lourenco said.
"I wanted to raise the issue about the current crisis faced by liquor outlets due to Supreme court order," he said.
Another Congress leader and former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat sought to know why the state government called for the session so late - when the gap of six months between two sessions was getting over.
"I don't know why they have called the session on the last day...Everybody was aware of the constitutional requirement. They could have called this session one month or one-and-a-half month before," Kamat said.
"I think they must have realised that the Assembly would be dissolved if they don't hold it today that is why they abruptly held this session," he said.
"There was nothing on the agenda. It (notice for the session) only said that the Governor will address the session," Kamat said.
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) legislator Dipak Dhavalikar said they had earlier demanded that the Assembly session should have been held in December last year.
"By convening the session in such a manner, the state government has proved that it is anti-democratic," alleged Dhavalikar, whose party had withdrawn support from the BJP-led government in the run-up to the Goa Assembly polls.
