No end to impasse over West Bengal’s Budget Session

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, March 1

The impasse over the commencement of the Budget Session of the West Bengal Assembly has persisted with Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday once again finding faults in the latest state Cabinet resolution regarding holding the session from 2 pm on March 7.

Dhankar, however, did not clarify the nature of irregularities he found in the proposal passed by the Cabinet in the meeting late last night.

Chief Secretary Hari Krishna Dwivedi met the Governor this morning after he was summoned by Dhankhar. “The Governor, noticing that the record made available by the government seeking to summon the Assembly on March 7 at 2 pm in pursuance to the February 28 Cabinet decision is wanting in compliance of prescriptions in the rules of business framed under Article 166 (3) of the Constitution, indicated the Chief Secretary may apprise this office personally as regard flawed procedure at the earliest,” a press release issued by Raj Bhavan said.

In a tweet posted later in the afternoon, the Governor said he asked the Chief Secretary to “respond in writing to the issued flagged” by him. The problem dates back to February 19 when the Governor first returned the file containing CM Mamata Banerjee’s recommendation to summon the Assembly on March 7.