On the lines of Lok Sabha, a decision has been taken to start zero hours in Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha. This decision has been taken to run the proceedings of the Vidhan Sabha smoothly. This arrangement will be implemented from Wednesday itself and the proposed zero hour will be of half an hour, during which members will be able to raise issues related to public interest.
There was a demand for starting zero hour in Himachal Vidhan Sabha for a long time. After which, on Tuesday, during the monsoon session of the Vidhan Sabha currently going on in Shimla, Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania made an announcement in this regard.
The speaker of the assembly said in the house that the issues of public interest which do not get time in the house as per the rules, can be raised by the members in the half-an-hour zero hour after the question hour. He said that the issues raised in zero hour should be of public interest, if the issue is different then it will not be accepted.
Pathania said that this time it happened many times in the House that members raised issues under Point of Order during Question Hour. Due to this, a lot of time was wasted during Question Hour and many important questions could not be discussed in the House. Pathania said that during Zero Hour, members will be able to raise their issues briefly. For this, they will get only one minute or a little more and the concerned minister will present his side on it.
Kuldeep Singh Pathania said that it has been decided to start the system of zero hour in Himachal Vidhan Sabha from Wednesday, i.e. 4th September, however, the opinion of the political parties is yet to come in this regard and after hearing whatever opinion comes in the House on Wednesday, this system will be implemented.
Provision for raising public issues during zero hour
Issues related to the public are raised during Zero Hour. In fact, usually the MLAs start raising many such issues during the Question Hour itself due to which the questions cannot be answered properly. This arrangement is being made for this reason. This happens immediately after the Question Hour before starting other legislative work. There is no provision for this in the Rules of Procedure as well. This is an informal arrangement for raising serious matters.
Report: UK Sharma
