The State Assembly will convene for a ten-day session starting Monday to bring in fresh Bills to replace Ordinances that have lapsed after the Governor declined to give his consent for their repromulgation.
The 11 Ordinances that expired include the Kerala Lok Ayukta (Amendment) Ordinance, which has drawn flak from the Opposition United Democratic Front and other quarters, the Kerala Maritime Board (Amendment) Ordinance, whose constitutionality has been challenged, and the Kerala Public Health Ordinance.
Announcing the schedule of the 6th session of the 15th Kerala Assembly on Saturday, Speaker M.B. Rajesh said the Assembly was being urgently convened to overcome an “’extraordinary situation” where the Ordinances could not be repromulgated before their expiry dates.
The previous session, which met for 15 days to discuss and pass the demands for grants, had ended only a month ago. The initial plan was to hold a special session during October-November exclusively for legislative business. However, the 11 Ordinances could not be reissued within the stipulated time and had expired, which led to the urgent convening of the upcoming session, he said.
August 22, the first day of the sixth session, is exclusively set aside for commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Independence.
Six Bills, including the Kerala Cooperative Societies (Second Amendment) Bill and the Kerala Maritime Board (Amendment) Bill, and the Kerala Lok Ayukta Bill replacing lapsed Ordinances and also the Kerala Repealing and Saving Bill, 2021, will be introduced on August 23 and 24.
The schedule of legislative business for the remaining days will be finalised by the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) which meets on August 22.
The sixth session will end on September 2.
