by Maleeha Sofi
JAMMU: With every word and every move being contested, the Jammu and Kashmir assembly took more than 20 minutes discussing if the house timing could be extended beyond 1:30 pm to 2 pm. There were hot exchanges between the treasury and opposition benches in reaching this discussion.
On the day first of grants when the lawmakers started discussing Health Education and Social Welfare, the three major ministries were being held by Sakina Ittoo. As every MLA in the house wanted to speak on the subject, there was not much time left for the two-day debate. By afternoon, the presiding officer, Mubarak Gul got some chit of paper asking for extending the time.
Two options were there. One, is to have a second sitting after the Zuhar prayers so that al lawmakers are able to speak reducing the load for the house for the second day of debate. Two, extend the time by half an hour and accommodate as many as possible.
Sakina Ittoo strongly opposed the idea of a second sitting asserting that in Ramzan, the Muslim month of fasting, it becomes challenging in the afternoon to work because of prayer schedules, hunger and thirst.
Eventually, the in-charge Speaker decided to go with the half an hour extension in time for the day. As he announced it, he faced very strong opposition from Sham Lal Sharma, a Congress turned BJP leader, who challenged the Speaker’s authority to extend time without consuming the business rules committee, a house committee that looks after the decision-making. This triggered a serious high-pitch discussion between the treasury and opposition benches. It was a Sharma versus Sakina issue for a long time.
By the time the House realised that it had reached a consensus and the House would operate with an extended time, it had already consumed more than 20 minutes of the 30 minutes it extended in the day’s business.
The House is facing time issues right from the beginning of the budget session. One main issue is that earlier 25 ministers would speak only when they were asked or required to. Now there are only three ministers and 24 others who need to talk as lawmakers. This is impacting the time management of the House.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah responded to the budget debate without permitting senior leaders like Yousuf Targami to speak. Even LoP Sunil Sharma was overruled by Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather and not permitted to speak because Omar had a flight to reach and drive to Gulmarg.
