Monsoon session of the Maharashtra Legislature may not start from August 3 as decided earlier because of the present COVID-19 pandemic. Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Nana Patole, on Saturday, hinted that the monsoon session may begin in the last week of August.
Patil said, “As per the business rules, there is a six months gap between two sittings of the house. The budget session was held in March and so the next session is expected to take place in September. However, the Business Advisory Committees (BACs), in their final meetings, had decided to convene on August 3. However, it won’t happen due to present COVID-19 crisis.’’ He informed that the final decision on the convening session in the last week of August is expected at the meetings of the BACs of the state assembly and council slated for Tuesday.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had said that the government may consider convening a session for a day to pass supplementary demands. However, the decision was not taken in this regard.
As reported by Free Press Journal, the monsoon session was to commence from June 22, but it was postponed to August 3 considering the pandemic. Besides, there was a proposal to hold assembly sittings in the central hall to accommodate all the 289 members in order to maintain social distance. On the other hand, the sittings of the state council can take place in the assembly hall, which can accommodate all the 78 members. However, at present, 18 seats have fallen vacant after the expiry of the tenure of the members.
Already the Maharashtra Legislature Secretariat has launched a roster system for attendance of its staff to complete necessary preparations for the monsoon session.
