From Language Bill to Cemeteries Act, Kerala Assembly passes 109 laws in four & half years

From the much-awaitedMalayalam Language Bill to the path-breaking ChristianCemeteries (Right to Burial of Corpse) Bill, Kerala Assemblyhas passed 109 significant legislations, in the last four andhalf years of the LDF government, before adjourning sine dieon Friday.

The 14th Assembly convened for 232 days in 22 sessionsafter the Pinarayi Vijayan government came to power in 2016.

The next assembly election is expected to be held in thesouthern state in April-May months.

Amidst the eventful proceedings, the House witnessed thepublishing of 275 Bills on divergent topics during the period.

Of this, 109 legislations have been passed including87government bills and 22 finance and appropriation bills.

With this, the House had made a remarkable step in thearea of law making, Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan on Friday said.

''The sessions of the 14th Assembly were quite fruitfuland creative. Many issues which may have direct or indirectimplications in the Kerala society have come for considerationof the House during these days,'' he said.

Some among the significant laws passed by the 14thAssembly include Infrastructure Investment Fund (Amendment)Bill, Kerala Goods and Services Tax Bill, Maritime Board Bill,Metropolitan Transport Authority Bill, Farmers' Welfare FundBill, Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation)Act, and so on.

Recalling the important events during the sessions, theSpeaker said the House, on May 25, 2017, had passed aresolution calling for the repeal of the Kerala Maritime BoardBill 2014, which was returned by the Governor.

The Governor denying nod for the Kerala ProfessionalColleges (Regularisation of of Admission in Medical Colleges)Bill, passed by the Assembly in 2018, had also become asignificant episode in the state's legislative history, headded.

Former Governor P Sathasivam addressed the 14th KeralaAssembly four times and delivered the government's policyaddress while the present Governor Arif Mohammad Khan twice.

The House also witnessed the untimely demise of seven ofits 140 members during the tenure.

The first phase of the ambitious e-Assembly project,which aims to create a paperless House, began in the 18thsession of the present Assembly.

Sreeramakrishnan said the passing of a complete statebudget before the beginning of the new financial year was veryrare in the history of the state assembly.

Usually, the full budget can only be passed at the end ofthe first four months of the financial year after the vote-on-account is passed.

The House had passed a full budgetin 1964, 1968, 1969,1972, 1975 and 2005.

''But 13 years after 2005, we were able to pass the fullbudget in 2018 and then in 2021, before the beginning of thenew financial year,'' he said.

Kerala Assembly's own TV channel, Sabha TV, and an OTPplatform were launched during the tenure of the 14th Assembly.

Awareness classes on constitution and a constitutionalliteracy march were also organised under the aegis of theHouse, the speaker added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)