No Dy Speaker for two years
SHILLONG: The Budget session of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly will begin from March 3.
An official source said the Governor has notified the summoning of the session on Monday after the State Government approved the date on Friday.
Though the Budget session will start from March 3, the duration of the session will be decided in the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee scheduled to be held on Wednesday.
Assam Governor Banwarilal Purohit, who has taken temporary charge of Meghalaya, will address the House on the opening day of the session.
During the session, the full Budget is expected to be passed and this may be the last full Budget of the Congress-led MUA-II coalition government as the Assembly polls will be held prior to the next Budget session in the early part of next year.
Several crucial issues confronting the State will figure in the Budget session which is expected to transact business at least for three weeks.
Meanwhile, sources said the post of the Deputy Speaker, which has been lying vacant for almost two years, is unlikely to be filled up during the remaining term of one year.
It was on March 23, 2015, that NCP legislator Sanbor Shullai, who had held the post of the Deputy Speaker, resigned two days before the no-confidence motion against the Assembly Speaker. The intention was to ensure that the Opposition was handled by the Chairman of the House when the motion against the Speaker was taken up.
Ronnie V. Lyngdoh, who was the chairman, ensured that the no-confidence motion was defeated.
As reward, Shullai was first accommodated as the Co-Chairman of the Meghalaya State Planning Board and now as the chairman of Meghalaya Government Construction Company Limited.