Speakers alone can decide nature of a bill

PATNA: CM Nitish Kumar on Friday tried to steer clear of the controversy involving Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary and governor Devanand Konwar on the question as to who has the constitutional right to define if a bill tabled in the house is a general bill or a money bill.
The CM made his position clear after the house was adjourned on the day. The question has arisen since the governor has returned three bills to the state assembly without giving his assent to them, maintaining that they were money bills, and, therefore, his permission ought to have been taken before tabling them in the house for their passage.
In contrast to the stand of the governor, the speaker of the state assembly has maintained that the three bills were of general nature that did not involve financial implications on the state exchequer.
The three bills in question are the Bihar Rajya Shikshak Karmachari Vivad Vidheyak, Bihar Rajya Vishwavidyalaya Ayog Vidheyak, and the Bihar Rajya Prashashnik Nyayadhikaran Vidheyak.
"The Constitution of the country is very clear on the matter. It is always the speaker of the Lok Sabha or the state assembly, who is the final authority in any such controversy. The speaker alone holds the power to define if a bill is a money bill or a bill of a general nature," CM Nitish said, adding that he would not drag himself into any position in respect to the three bills that the governor had returned to the state assembly.
Earlier, in the state assembly, after it was announced that the governor had given his assent to 11 bills and withheld it on the three other bills, BJP members Amarendra Pratap Singh and Vikram Kunwar, along with a few other members of the treasury benches, took exception to the return of the three bills from the Raj Bhawan without getting governor's assent to them. They also demanded a house debate on it. A similar situation had also arisen in the budget session of the state assembly.
The speaker on Friday said he would let his ruling on the matter be known to all the members of the house on another date.