SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather has constituted a 9-member Business Advisory Committee (BAC).
The Speaker ordered formation of the BAC hours after opposition BJP members objected to the conduct of Assembly proceedings without BAC.
The Speaker will be the chairman of the nine-member Committee.
Other members of the committee include Leader of Opposition and BJP MLA Sunil Sharma, NC MLAs Ali Mohammad Sagar and Mubarak Gul, CPI-M MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, Congress MLA Ghulam Ahmad Mir, Peoples Conference MLA Sajad Lone, PDP MLA Mohammad Fayaz and independent MLA Choudhary Mohammad Akram.
The committee has been constituted by the Speaker under Rule 317 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.
According to Rule 318 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in J&K Legislative Assembly, the committee's function is to recommend the time allocation for the discussion of various stages of Government Bills and other business, as directed by the Speaker in consultation with the Leader of the House.
In the Assembly yesterday, BJP members had raised the issue of Assembly functioning without BAC. BJP MLA Sham Lal Sharma had stated that the Assembly proceedings without having BAC are null and void as they were conducted not in consonance with the Business Rules.
The 40-day-long Budget session of the J&K Assembly is presently being held in Jammu. The session began on March 3 and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is also finance minister of J&K, presented the budget on March 7.
The first session of J&K Assembly after the formation of an elected government headed by Omar Abdullah in October last year was held in November during which the government passed a resolution demanding restoration of special status to J&K.