Leader of Opposition, Mukul Sangma, petitioned to Meghalaya governor RN Ravi and Assembly speaker Metbah Lyngdoh regarding the lapse in connection with holding the special session of the State Assembly.
In a letter to governor Ravi, Sangma pointed out serious lapses in holding of the one-day special session of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly as it did not fulfill the requirement of the provision of the Article 176 (1) of the Constitution.
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In another letter to the speaker, the Leader of Opposition expressed his regret as he could not attend the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) on January 14, due to unavoidable circumstances.
“The constitutional provision regarding the special address by the Governor as required under Article 176 (1) should have been part of the proceedings and the government represented by the minister in-charge parliamentary affairs and the Assembly secretariat could have not overlooked such important constitutional requirement,” he said.
Mukul Sangma said this constitutional requirement could not have eluded the attention of the state government because in the event of the commencement of the first session of each year, the governor has to address and “the Governor Address” has to be prepared and approved by the state cabinet before sending to the governor and subsequent printing.
“I was taken by surprise only after reaching the House and seeing the calendar for the session and the list of business for the day.”
“Raising the matter in the House during the session would have been a serious embarrassment for the august House and the state as a whole as this serious constitutional lapse or in other words a serious violation of the constitutional provision would have come to a scanner before the whole world,” Sangma said.
Mukul Sangma brought the fact before the governor and the speaker for necessary action.