Business advisory committee to be formed in Assembly: Speaker Rahim Rather

Jammu : Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather on Wednesday informed the House that a business advisory committee will be formed after some BJP members locked horns with the ruling National Conference (NC) members over not setting up the panel.

BJP’s Sham Lal Sharma raised the issue of non-formation of the business advisory committee. He questioned the functioning of the House without the formation of the business advisory committee and threatened to walk out. This led to a verbal duel between him and Education Minister Sakeena Itoo, with other members from both the treasury and oppositional benches joining the chorus.

NC member Mubarak Gul, who was in the Chair in the absence of Rather, managed to calm down the situation and persuaded Sharma to sit back, informing them that the House would be informed about the rules shortly.

He extended the session by half-an-hour after consulting the House as some members from the treasury benches including minister Itoo and Javed Ahmad Dar said many members are observing Ramzan fast.

Rather returned to his chair and said the Assembly secretariat issued the provisional calendar before the commencement of the session and there was no need for setting up the business advisory committee to run the House.

“The provisional calendar was prepared in consultation with the leader of the House before the session as per the rules. The business advisory committee is formed when the House is faced with some big issue,” he said.

Rather said some members have expressed concern and he finds no problem in the setting up the business advisory committee to take the suggestions of the members into account for the smooth functioning of the House.

“The business advisory committees have been formed in the past and so it should be formed again,” he said. — (PTI)