The Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, called the measure unconstitutional.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Tuesday refused to give his go-ahead to hold a special one-day session of the Legislative Assembly to discuss and pass a resolution against the controversial agricultural laws put forward by the Union government. The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala sought a go-ahead on Monday, to hold the session on Wednesday. The governor asked the government on Monday for a reason to hold the session, after which the government gave two explanations. The governor Tuesday night said he was not convinced.
With this, the session will not take place. The chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, wrote to the governor after the refusal, saying it is unconstitutional. “It goes against subsection 174 (1) of the Constitution. The Governor does not have discretionary power to call or adjourn the Assembly session, ”wrote the CM.
“The argument that there is no urgency is incorrect. It has been in recent days that the protest of farmers in various parts of the country has grown to this magnitude. Both the president and the governor must act on the advice of the cabinet. The Sarkaria Commission has stressed that the governor is obliged to obey when a government that has a majority in the Chamber recommends holding or adjourning a session, ”he wrote.
Agriculture Minister VS Sunilkumar said: “We follow the rules, as the decision to convene the Assembly rests with the cabinet and such a thing has happened for the first time in the history of the state. This is definitely a serious political problem and even the opposition led by Congress had supported this session. We are waiting for the Chief Minister, who is out of the district, to return. Some other states have also held special Assembly sessions for this, “he said.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chenithala said the MLA should meet in the Assembly hall and pass the resolution. The special session was scheduled for one hour and only the party leaders representing the different political groups had to speak and in the end, the resolution was supposed to be approved. The ruling Left Democratic Front has a 91-seat majority in the 140-member Assembly.
Pinarayi had previously said that Kerala will seek legal recourse against agricultural laws and the special session was seen as the first step towards that.
The three agricultural laws; the Agricultural Products Trade and Trade (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers’ Price Guarantee and Agricultural Services (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement, 2020, were approved by both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in September.
By the way, Kerala in January this year became the first state in the country to file a case in the Supreme Court against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), after which the other states did the same as well.
With IANS inputs
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