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Tamil Nadu: On Thursday, Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Speaker M. Appavu 2023 said a special Assembly session will be convened at the State Secretariat on Saturday in Chennai, days after Governor RN Ravi returned 10 bills pending his assent.
The special session is scheduled to begin at 10 am. The move comes days after the Tamil Nadu Governor returned 10 bills which were pending with him, back to the assembly. Speaking to media persons on the sidelines of a conference about the legislative skills of former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at the SKP Vanitha International School’s campus in Tiruvannamalai, Mr. Appavu said that as the State government wanted to convene a special session to pass the returned Bills once more, the special session will be held on Saturday under Assembly Rules 26.
He said,“As I have learnt that many legislative Bills have been returned by the Governor, the State government wanted to pass these Bills again after discussions, at a special session in the Assembly”. The development comes at a time when the Supreme Court is hearing a plea filed by the Tamil Nadu government over the delay shown by Governor RN Ravi in granting assent to bills.
During the last hearing, the Supreme Court had remarked that it was a matter of serious concern that the Governor was sitting on various bills, prosecution sanctions, and other important documents sent to him by the government. Mr. Appavu said that the special session has been convened only to pass the Bills again and not to discuss the Supreme Court’s observation or the Governor and the President.
He further added that the special law against online rummy and the Bill against NEET were returned in the first instance by the Governor. A total of 12 bills were pending with the Governor, out of which, he has returned 10. Most of the bills returned to the assembly pertained to state universities.
However, after these laws were passed again in the Assembly, the Governor either approved them (in the case of online gambling) or sent them to the President for approval (Bill against NEET). The state government, therefore, decided to convene an “urgent” session of the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Saturday to reintroduce and pass the bills once again, Speaker M Appavu said.
