Constitutional expert Subhas Kashyap today dismissed Opposition's allegations that the Jharkhand government was violating constitutional norms by not having a full strength cabinet even after a year in office, saying it was not illegal.
"Yes, there is provision for 12 ministers for Jharkhand... in my opinion (keeping a) berth vacant is not illegal," he said, replying to a query by senior Congress MLA Manoj Yadav during a day's training camp of 'Legislature Proceedings' for MLAs here.
Commenting on what if a member resigned even after having a full strength cabinet, he said one could not say it as unconstitutional.
During his speech earlier in the day, the Leader of Opposition and former chief minister Hemant Soren sought to know whether the "incomplete" ministry was constitutional.
The Opposition has been accusing the BJP-led NDA government of being unconstitutional for not filling up the twelfth minister even after completion of a year in office.
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Kashyap also stressed on the need for maximum legislative participation in a bill from its draft stage to its passage.
"Legislative participation is necessary in a democracy in the passage of bills... Legislators should take interest in the process so that legislature participation is there," he said.
The former Secretary-General of Lok Sabha was also of the view that hasty passage of bills would affect their quality.
Citing several examples as to how bills were rushed through within short duration, he said sufficient time should be given for introduction, consideration, discussions and passage of bills.
Kashyap pitched for a systematic planning to prepare bills and letting it through legislative committee for study to give legislature its participation in bill making and its subsequent passage.
He suggested consultations could also be held with NGOs and other institutions at programming and draft stage of the bill.
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Another constitutional expert G C Mehrotra advised legislators that pointed and straight questions will fetch the desired answers during Assembly proceedings.
"And supplementary questions should be from the starred (or main) question," he said addressing the training camp.
Mehrotra said misleading replies would attract breach of privilege.
The former Secretary-General of the 12th Lok Sabha said members have wide scope to raise issues during debate on Motion of Thanks to Governor's address, during which they even get a chance to make the government accountable.
There was also a wide scope to raise issues during debates on passage of budget and appropriation bill.
He stated that after the media has been highlighting members' performance on the basis of RTI (Right to Information), participation in questions has risen in the Houses.
Pointing out that questions were a powerful device in the matter of public interest, Mehrotra, however, cautioned the members to be careful against questions of 'lobbyists' and cited how two members had been expelled in the past.
Asking the members to "catch the attention of the Chair" to get a chance to ask supplementary questions, he advised all members to refer to the rule book and the Constitution before quoting from them.
