Kerala assembly session to begin tomorrow; budget to be tabled on Jan 15

Kerala's Assembly session is all set to begin on January 8 with Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan's address to the Assembly. As per Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan, there will be obituary reference for leaders who recently passed away on January 11. This would be followed by a discussion on the Governor's speech between January 12 and 14 followed by a discussion on the state's budget on January 15. The assembly session is said to conclude on January 28. 

"On January 15, the Finance Minister will present the budget. The assembly session will conclude January 28 as per the calendar," said Kerala Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan.

Read: Kerala Logs 5,051 New COVID-19 Cases, 5,638 Recoveries, Total Cases Inches Towards 8 Lakh Mark

Read: Kerala Gold Smuggling: Customs Summons Speaker's Addl Pvt Secretary For Questioning

Speaker on dollar smuggling case

When asked about whether any legal action would be taken against his assistant private secretary K Ayyappan who has been issued a notice by the Customs Department connection with the dollar smuggling case, Sreeramakrishnan said that prior sanction from Speaker was needed for any legal action in premises of Assembly.

"As per rules and procedures of the Legislative Assembly which is derived from the Constitution, it is clearly clarifying one thing. If you need to take any legal action in premises of assembly you have to get prior sanction from the Speaker," he said. 

Earlier, the Kerala Assembly Speaker’s office had issued a letter to the Customs Department stating that the Speaker’s permission is required to interrogate his Assistant Private Secretary. A third notice has been sent by Customs to K Ayyappan asking him to appear before its Kochi office tomorrow. Ayyappan has apprised the Customs that he could not appear as the Assembly session was due to begin on the same day. 

The Kerala dollar smuggling case came to light during the investigation of the Kerala gold smuggling case, which is currently being probed by the National Investigation Agency, the Enforcement Directorate, and the Customs department.

Read: Kerala CM Pledges Govt Support To Local Bodies Sans Political Bias

Read: Kerala Gold Smuggling: Customs Summons Speaker's Addl Pvt Secretary For Questioning

(With Agency Inputs; PTI Image)