House divided over proposal to do away with Chief Minister's Question Hour in Jharkhand Assembly

In a meeting of the Rules Committee of the Jharkhand Assembly, a resolution was passed to remove the Chief Minister's Question Hour from the Manual of Business and Procedure.

Preparations have begun to do away with the Chief Minister's Question Hour in the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly. In a meeting of the Rules Committee of the state Assembly chaired by the Speaker, it was decided that Section 52 of the Manual of Business and Procedure should be abolished.

Another amendment sought was that under section 304(2), the duration of zero hour should be increased from 15 minutes to 25 minutes. Moreover, short notice questions should be submitted to the Assembly Secretariat 14 days before the session, said a recommendation under section 34(3).

Member of the Rules Committee and JMM MLA Deepak Birua tabled the recommendation of the committee in the House on Tuesday. The Speaker stated that on the recommendation of the committee, all MLAs can suggest amendments by March 14.

Birua said that the resolution was passed unanimously in the meeting of the Rules Committee chaired by the Speaker.

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It was discussed in the committee that when the Chief Minister is present in the House during the session, there is no justification for a separate Chief Minister's Question Hour. It has also been seen that there is a lack of policy questions in the Chief Minister's Question Hour.

Instead, the thirty minutes devoted to the Chief Minister's Question Hour can be used for other work. Birua added that the committee had noted that there is no Chief Minister's Question Hour in most other state assemblies.