Failure to Hold Assembly Session in Manipur
The 60-member Manipur Assembly failed to hold a Special Session on Monday to discuss the ethnic violence in the State as the Raj Bhavan did not issue a notification to convene it despite a recommendation from the State Cabinet.
To conduct a Special Session requisite notification from the Governor is needed.
Such notification is required to be issued 15 days ahead of a session.
The previous session of the Assembly was adjourned sine die in March, more than a month before the clashes started on May 3.
The next session has to be held before September 2.
Article 174 of the Constitution says: “The House or Houses of the Legislature of the State shall be summoned to meet twice at least in every year, and six months shall not intervene between their last sitting in one session and the date appointed for their first sitting in the next session.”
Political and constitutional implications of this failure
Constitutional crisis.
The delay on the part of Raj Bhavan in issuing the notification is presumably due to the political and law and order situation in the State.
Legislators of Kuki ethnicity, across party affiliations, have expressed their inability to attend the Assembly session due to the prevailing atmosphere, as violence continues in parts of the State.
Governor is bound by the advice of the government with regard to summoning the Assembly.
A Constitution Bench had made this clear in Nabam Rebia (2016).
Whether the Governor is guided by her own wisdom or the Union government’s assessment of the situation, it is difficult to justify the failure to hold the Assembly session as sought by the Council of Ministers.
There have been both political and civil society demands for the Assembly to meet and discuss the violence that broke out early in May.
The delay on the Governor’s part in notifying the session casts a shadow on the legitimacy and authority of the government.
On another issue, there appears to be an unusual delay in the appointment of Justice Siddharth Mridul, a judge of the Delhi High Court, as the Manipur High Court’s Chief Justice.
The court has been under an Acting Chief Justice for several months now.
Reports suggest that the Centre has forwarded the Collegium’s recommendation to the State government for its consent.
The question arises whether any constitutional functionary in the State is holding back the process.
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