Bills returned to be readopted in TNLA special session on Nov 18

CHENNAI: The special session of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly (TNLA) would be convened on Saturday. Speaker M Appavu has called for the special session of the TNLA hours after Tamil Nadu governor R N Ravi returned as many as 10 of the 12 pending bills passed by the House for reconsideration.

A notification issued by Assembly Secretary K Srinivasan on Thursday said that the speaker has convened the special session of the TNLA at 10 am on November 18. Though the notification did not state the agenda of the session, the House is expected to re-adopt the bills returned by the Governor. The House was adjourned sine die in October last.

It would probably be the second instance within a year that the House would be re-adopting Bills returned by the incumbent governor. In March 2023, the State Assembly readopted the Bill banning online gambling and regulating online games.

The readopted Bill, which was later approved by Governor Ravi, stood judicial scrutiny with the Madras High Court upholding the bill last week. The HC, however, exempted rummy and poker from the purview of the bill on the ground that they were games of skill. In February 2022, the House readopted the Bill for exempting Tamil Nadu from NEET. The NEET exemption bill has been sent for the President's nod by the Raj Bhavan.

The bills have been returned by the Raj Bhavan in the backdrop of the Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of Indian D Y Chandrachud took cognizance of the petition moved by the Tamil Nadu over governors allegedly delaying bills indefinitely and observed that the issue raised by the state was a matter of serious concern.

Interacting with media persons in Tiruvannamalai, speaker Appavu, accompanied by his secretary Srinivasan, said that the Bills returned by the governor would be re-adopted without any changes. Reacting to a specific query on whether the House would harp over the observations of the apex court, Appavu said that there would be no discussion on the governor or the president or the judiciary during the Assembly session.

The speaker also clarified that the Constitution mandates that the governor must give his assent to a Bill when it is adopted and presented for the second time for Raj Bhavan's assent. The TNLA had convened special sessions in a similar fashion for issues of serious public importance like the Mullaiperiyar Dam row, Jallikattu and Cauvery issues (Mekadatu dam).

The Supreme Court has posted for November 20 the hearing of the petition moved by the Tamil Nadu and Punjab governments seeking to fix a timeframe for assent to bills passed by the State Legislature. Some of the bills that are awaiting nod from governor relates to the replacement of governor as the chancellor of varsities in Tamil nadu and appointment of finance secretary as a member in the syndicate and senate of TN universities.