In Council Chairperson's absence administrative powers rest only with Speaker: Narvekar

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar on Friday said the administrative powers of the state legislature rest solely with the Speaker when the post of the Legislative Council Chairperson is vacant.

The Speaker's statement came a day after the issue of respective powers of the two Houses was discussed in the Council, with Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe claiming that she was not consulted on certain administrative issues.

The Assembly and Council are independent of each other and proceedings of one House should not be discussed in the other, Narvekar said in the Assembly.

The issue was raised by BJP MLA Ashish Shelar saying that there was a discussion in the Legislative Council the day before, and the Speaker should clarify the issue. Narvekar said the Speaker and Chairman hold administrative powers of the legislature as per the rules framed by the Governor.

At present, the post of chairperson is lying vacant and Deputy Chairperson is not included in this forum of Speaker and Chairperson, he said.