Leader of opposition in the KHADC Titosstarwell Chyne today lambasted the executive committee led by Pyniaid Sing Syiem on the manner the house is being conducted and providing the members with the list of business only at the last minute before the commencement of the session.
Terming the action as dictatorial and pure suppression, Chyne asked how the people understood the bill and if they were getting it at the last moment before the session.
“There is no respect for the members of this EC that is doing whatever it wants. If this is the style of conduct of the house then there’s no need to wait for the bill to pass the other days…you can pass it today itself and do whatever you like,” Chyne said banging the desk on the first day of the council’s winter session today.
Chyne justified his anger saying that it is not possible for the members who got the copy of the amendment bills today morning and were asked to submit the amendment motion today evening itself.
Stating that the EC had repeated what it had done in the last session where copies of the bills were submitted at the last moment with not enough time for the members to study the bills, he further took a dig into the winter session that was conducted today, actually it should have been conducted in October.
“The normal session should happen after every four months. Now you have to call the normal session in December instead or the special session called in October. If every special session is considered a normal session without allowing members to ask questions, etc then this will become a very bad precedent. And if this is the case then we should expect the budget session by April,” he stated.
Responding to this, Deputy Chief Executive Member, Pynshngain N. Syiem said according to rules it can summon the house anytime as long as it is not beyond four months.
“We have not violated any rules and have followed parliamentary practice,” he added.
It may be noted that the EC has decided to table the Khasi Hills Autonomous District (Khasi Social Custom of Lineage) (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the United Khasi-Jaintia Hills District Fishery (Amendment) Bill, 2023 during the current session.