Srinagar, Sept 16: Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather on Wednesday defended the duration of the forthcoming Autumn Session, rejecting criticism from Leader of Opposition (LoP) Sunil Sharma that a short sitting reflected a lack of legislative accountability.
Rather said Jammu and Kashmir has an average of 28 Assembly sittings a year against the national average of 24, arguing that the Union Territory compares favourably with other legislatures in terms of annual sitting days.
“The Leader of Opposition should introspect before making statements like that. Jammu and Kashmir has an average of 28 sittings per year against the national average of just 24,” Rather told media persons during an interaction ahead of the Autumn Session.
The session is scheduled to be held in Srinagar from September 21 to September 30. Sharma had demanded a month-long session, alleging that the Government was avoiding adequate legislative scrutiny and failing to provide sufficient time for raising public issues.
The Speaker said the Autumn Session in J&K had traditionally been relatively short and cited examples from other States to counter the Opposition’s criticism.
“Assam had a one-day session, Rajasthan had a two-day session, and Gujarat, Delhi and Goa had three-day sessions, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh had five-day sessions. These are all BJP-ruled States,” he said.
He also referred to the period when the BJP was part of the Government in Jammu and Kashmir, saying the Autumn Session had been short during those years as well.
“In 2015, the Autumn Session was from October 4 to October 10 while in 2017, it was held in July for only four days,” Rather said.
The Speaker’s remarks came a day after Sharma accused the Government of undermining legislative accountability and called for a longer session to enable members to raise issues concerning the public.
Rather, however, maintained that the number of sitting days alone should not be viewed as the sole measure of legislative performance, stressing the importance of the quality of debate and the functioning of the House.
He also made an appeal to the media to give greater prominence to substantive legislative work rather than disruptions and uproar inside the Assembly.
“The Presiding Officers will certainly try to bring them under control—that is indeed their responsibility. However, your responsibility is even greater. Those who create uproar and show no respect for the rules, please write less about them,” he said.
Rather urged journalists to focus more on the quality of speeches and the legislative performance of members.
“Give more coverage to whichever member delivers a good performance. That will help us conduct the House in a civilised and orderly manner,” he said.
The Speaker said excessive coverage of disruptions could encourage other members to resort to similar tactics for publicity.
“Generally, it is seen that those who create a ruckus receive the most coverage. The consequence of this is that the number of rabble-rousers continues to grow day by day,” he said.
Rather said new members could get the impression that shouting slogans and creating disruptions was an effective way of attracting media attention, and urged the press to instead highlight members who respect parliamentary rules and contribute substantively to proceedings.
The exchange between the Speaker and the Opposition comes ahead of the September 21 opening of the Autumn Session, with the duration and functioning of the House emerging as an early point of political contention.
