Advocate writes to President Murmu; requests to ensure compliance with Article 174(1) by Haryana Govt
Babushahi Bureau
Chandigarh, September 3, 2024: Hemant Kumar, Advocate in Punjab and Haryana High Court has written a letter to the President of India Droupadi Murmu, requesting a compliance of Article 174(1) of the Constitution of India by Haryana Government.
"Article 174 (1) of the Constitution of India stipulates that the Governor shall from time to time summon the House or each House of the Legislature of the State to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit, but six months shall not intervene between its last sitting in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session," told Advocate Hemant Kumar.
Advocate asserted that the previous Session of current 14th Haryana Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha), which was actually a one-day Special Session and which was summoned for seeking the Vote of Confidence by the incumbent Chief Minister of Haryana, Nayab Singh Saini, got convened on 13 March 2024.
"As per the mandate of Article 174(1) of the Constitution of India, the next Session of the current 14th Haryana Vidhan Sabha is to be summoned before 12 September 2024 i.e. well within six months as reckoned from the previous Session of Vidhan Sabha which was summoned on 13 March 2024. Nevertheless, although ECI's exercise of powers conferred upon it by Article 324 of the Constitution of India can very much announce and issue the schedule for conducting the next Assembly General Elections to the State of Haryana however the same would not in any way affect the Constitutional Obligation/Requirement of the Haryana Government to get summoned from the State Governor the constitutionally mandated next Session of the current 14th Haryana Vidhan Sabha, whose normal 5 years tenure is up to 3 November 2024, asserted Hemant. In other words, even the prevalence of Model Code of Conduct would not be an embargo for the summoning of the next Assembly Session on or before 12 Sep 2024," he added.
Hemant has also duly quoted a Judgment of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court of India to support his contention viz. Special Reference Case 1 of 2002 - Under Article 143(1) of the Constitution of India ( Decision dated 28 Oct 2002) which laid down that the provisions of Article 174 are mandatory so far as the period between two sessions is concerned in respect of live Assemblies and not dissolved Assemblies. Article 174 and Article 324 operate in different fields. However, Article 174 is not relatable to a dissolved Assembly.
"If the ruling Nayab Singh Saini-led BJP Government in Haryana still doesn't want to get the next session of the current Haryana Assembly summoned on or before 12 Sep 2024, then it can take wisely take a call on getting the incumbent 14th Haryana Vidhan Sabha prematurely dissolved from the Governor and in that case, it would no longer be mandatory for the summoning of the session of current State Assembly on or before 12 Sep 2024," asserted Hemant.