Manipur winter session prorogued, Budget session summoned

IMPHAL, March 2: The Governor of Manipur, Ved Prakash Marwah, has prorogued the eventful third session of the seventh Manipur legislative Assembly. Further, the Governor has summoned the fourth session of the Assembly, which will be the budget, session for the financial year 2000-2001 on March 19 next at 11 am in the state Assembly Hall. The Raj Bhawan issued a press release to this effect today. It may be mentioned that the Radhabinod Koijam ministry, in its first Cabinet meeting, held on February 28, had recommended to the Governor to prorogue the 3rd session of the Assembly and to convene the budget session from March 19. The Assembly Speaker, S Dhananjoy, being out of station, the Assembly business advisory committee will meet after his return to Imphal on March 6. The business advisory committee, apart from deciding on the business to be put up during the budget session, will also decide on the length of the session. The Speaker is currently in Chennai, where he went after attending a recently held regional presiding officers' meet at Guwahati. It is worth mentioning here that a single judge bench of the Gauhati High Court had recently directed that the no confidence motion raised by a group of 31 MLAs led by the former Chief Minister Wahengbam Nipamacha on November 18, 2000 should be taken up in the next session of the state Assembly.