Directorate of Information & Publicity 
DIRECTORATE OF INFORMATION & PUBLICITY
GOVERNMENT OF DELHI
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Dated : 17/1/2017
Given below is the text of the Ruling given by the hon’ble Speaker of the Delhi Assembly, Mr Ram Niwas Goel on whether the Assembly session which commenced on Monday, 17th January should be treated as the first session of the new year (2017) :
“Hon’ble Members,
I have come across some reports in today’s news papers quotinghon’ble Leader of Opposition Shri Vijendra Gupta’s contention that the Rules of the House are being violated. A Press Release dated 16 January, 2017 issued by hon’ble Leader of Opposition appears to be the main source of the impugned news paper reports. Shri Gupta repeated the same charges in the House now.
Shri Vijendra Gupta’s objection is primarily on two counts:
1. That the Session of the Legislative Assembly is being called in parts and
2. That the hon’ble Lt. Governor should have been invited to address the Session today which according to Shri Gupta is the first day of the new Session in the new year.
Unfortunately, hon’ble Leader of Opposition has allowed himself to be misled in the matter. His ignorance of the Rule 17 (1), which permits the sittings of Session of the Legislative Assembly, when not prorogued, to be resumedin parts, led him to spread this falsehood. Identical rules exist in rule books of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and the State Legislatures and the same have been invoked from time to time. There are any number of instances when the sittings of Sessions of Parliament of India too were and are being resumed in parts.
Coming to the more mischievous charge of alleged dishonour to hon’ble Lt. Governor, which primarily is aimed at misleading hon’ble Lt. Governor, I would like to make it clear to all concerned that inviting hon’ble Lt. Governor to address the Session today would have been, in fact, a violation of the Rules. Contrary to Shri Gupta’s ill informed claims, the resumed Session today is not the First Session of the new calendar year. It is merely a spilt over fourth Session which commenced in the calendar year of 2016. There are precedents in Lok Sabha of as early as in 1962/63 and as late as in 2003/04 when the winter sessions of Lok Sabha spilt over to new calendar year and yet the resumed sitting in new calendar year was not treated as New Session for the purpose of Presidential Address.
In fact, in 2004 when the Council of Ministers led by Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee recommended to resume the sitting of the Winter Session of 2003, the then Speaker of Lok Sabha readily agreed to facilitate the same. Questions raised then led to a ruling from the Chair in which it was categorically stated that the resumed sitting of 2004 was part two of the winter session of 2003 and that it would not be correct to invite hon’ble President to address the session which was not to be counted as the first Session in the new calendar year.
A constitution bench of hon’ble Supreme Court upheld this position on 29 March, 2010 in the matter of RamdasAthawale vs Union Of India &Ors.
Hon’ble Leader of Opposition did not think twice about the House, its Rules and its dignity before making wild allegations in his anxiety to sound relevant. In the process, he has done no good to the honour of hon’ble Lt. Governor, to the prestige of the House and to the position of the Leader of Opposition. My advice to him is to utilize the governmental facilities provided to him to do the fact checking than for peddling blatant lies. I am also constrained to warn him against dragging the office of hon’ble Lt. Governor into such ill informed diatribe. As the Speaker of this august House, I assure all concerned that all the Rules and conventions vis-à-vis the role envisioned for hon’ble Lt. Governor in the proceedings of the House will be fully honoured.”
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