On the extended day of the 11th session, the twelfth legislative assembly, passed the budget for 2016-17 by a voice vote for an amount totaling Rs. 13658.74 through the Nagaland Appropriation Bill(No.2) Act 2016. However, when the figure was compared with that which was contained in the budget paper presented to the house on March 17, a difference of more than Rs.10 crore was noticed. The entire process on Saturday took hardly fifteen minutes. The business was to have concluded on Friday but was extended till Saturday.
Earlier, during the four-day session, the House also passed four Bills- the Nagaland Prohibition of Gambling and Promotion and Regulation of Online Games of Skill Bill, 2015 introduced last year, The Nagaland Backward Tribes Commission Bill, 2016, the Nagaland Appropriation (No. 1) Bill, 2016 and the Nagaland Appropriation (No. 2) Bill, 2016 during the Session. NLA speaker Sazo put the Bills on voice vote and the Bills were passed.
The last day witnessed presentation of assembly committee reports, presentation of Comptroller and Auditor General of India Report for the year 2014-15, passing of the Demands for Grants for the year 2016-17, passing of the Nagaland Appropriation (No. 2) Bill, 2016 and announcement of Constitution of the various financial and non-financial committees and panel of chairman for 2016-17.
On Saturday, the chairman of the Committee on Estimates (2015-2016) G. Kaito Aye and chairman of the Committee on Subordinate Legislation (2015-2016) presented the following reports: 121st report on the estimates of the Department of Agriculture (Agri Link Road); 122nd report on the estimates of Power Department; and 123rd report on the examination on the Estimates of Woman Resource Development department.
Chairman of the committee on subordinate legislation (2015-2016) Dr.T.M Lotha presented reports including 42nd report on Nagaland Police Service Rules,2016; 43rd report on Nagaland Secretarial subordinate service rules,1972; 45th report on Nagaland Judicial Service Rules, 2009; 46th report on Nagaland Secretariat (Civil) Stenographers Service Rules 1973 and 47th report on Nagaland Fisheries Service Rules, 2006.
After conducting all businesses during the four-day long Budget Session at the eleventh session of the Twelfth Nagaland Legislative Assembly, Speaker NLA Chotisuh Sazo adjourned the session sine die Saturday morning.
The Naga political issue dominated the discussions during the four-day session where the house, comprising of ruling party members sans opposition, spoke on the need for early solution by bringing all Naga Political Groups(NPGs) together.
The chief minister, T.R.Zeliang in his speech on Friday, had asserted that formation of an alternative arrangement at the present juncture would be speculative, since it would have to be done through a debate in parliament for a constitutional amendment and not before. He said commenting on the speculations about the outcome of the ongoing talks “could be something that can be risky as well as dangerous” and warned against pitting the cart before the horse.
He said speculations could be endless and unproductive and did not help in anyway. Reiterating that any settlement or solution should be inclusive, he said they were pressing the interlocutor for Naga peace talks to consult all the Naga political groups before modalities were finalized.