Special session of State Assembly to table UCC on Feb 5

DEHRADUN, 27 Jan: A special session of the Uttarakhand Assembly has been summoned on 5 February in Dehradun. It is so far not clear if this session will be a one-day special session or more than a day long. A note was issued in this regard on Friday by the Uttarakhand Assembly Secretariat stating that the Uttarakhand Assembly has summoned the Fifth Vidhan Sabha of Uttarakhand to meet for the second session. Sources claimed that this session has been summoned to table the Uniform Civil Code Bill and get it legislated and to also legislate a bill providing for 5 per cent horizontal reservation to the statehood activists or their dependents in state government services.

It may also be recalled that while the last session of the State Assembly was held in September last year, there can’t be a gap of six months or more between the sessions to ensure continuity of the State Assembly as per the rules of procedures of the State Assembly. Hence, a session is about to be due. In recent years, the number of sessions each year and the number of total sittings of the State Assembly has seen a sharp decline, with sessions not only getting shorter, but fewer too. It may be recalled that the last session of the Fifth State Assembly (Since the formation of the state) was not prorogued. Therefore the second session of the year 2023 has been convened by the Speaker of the State Assembly from 5 February in continuation of the last sitting held of the second session of the year 2023 in September after approval granted by the Governor in this regard. The last sitting of the second session (Monsoon Session) of the year 2023 had lasted only three days and thereafter had been adjourned on 8 September sine dine but not prorogued.