Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday summoned the West Bengal assembly for a session at the highly unusual time of 2am on March 7, acting on a typographical mistake in the state cabinet’s proposal note. A new controversy has arisen around this notification. The governor, however, said that he had sealed the decision approved by the state cabinet.
The schedule for the assembly session reached Raj Bhavan at 2am. The governor summoned the chief secretary, calling the matter “unprecedented”. The state’s advocate general was called on Friday because he could not be present before.
The governor also tweeted a written proposal approved by the state cabinet. However, almost everywhere, the notification is for starting the assembly session at 2pm. Even at the beginning of the budget session, the governor’s speech is mentioned for 2pm. Only at the end, once, the time has been mentioned as 2am.
https://twitter.com/jdhankhar1/status/1497169753990787075?t=-hdXE-V32YdtovUduNO0Eg&s=08
In a statement issued by the governor on the basis of the proposal, he called a session for 2am. At the same time, Dhankhar said that this incident was unprecedented.
After seeing the governor’s tweet, chief minister Mamata Banerjee called him up. The CM also said that this was a typing error. She has called a cabinet meeting on February 28 to rectify the mistake and send a new proposal.
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has had a stormy relationship with the Mamata Banerjee government over many issues since assuming charge in the state. The CM recently even blocked him on microblogging site Twitter.
The governor said he had convened the assembly session from 2am on March 7, agreeing to the decision of the state cabinet in accordance with Article 174 (1) of the Constitution. “It is unusual for the assembly to convene after midnight and at two o’clock in the morning, and that would make new history, but that is the decision of the cabinet.”
No response has been received from the state government so far. However, assembly speaker Biman Banerjee too said that the confusion was due to a typing error. “If there was confusion, the governor could have cleared the matter from any member of the cabinet. But he loves to tweet without speaking. Anyway, we are now cautious after this.”
Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh also said that the confusion was probably caused by an unintentional mistake while typing.
“This issue is with the government and the governor. The speaker of the legislative assembly and the parliamentary minister can speak on this. It is unusual for the assembly to sit at two in the morning. Typing mistakes can be possible. The governor could have avoided that,” he said.
Kunal Ghosh also clarified later that CM Mamata Banerjee herself had called up the governor to clarify the typing error. However, since that had not been heeded, a new proposal would be sent by the state cabinet, recommending the correct timing, he said.
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