BENGALURU: Six months after its last sitting, the Karnataka legislature will be convened on September 21. The Cabinet, headed by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, on Thursday decided to hold a 10-day session, the modalities of which are yet to be finalised.
Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the legislature session in March was cut short and there was no clarity on when the House would meet again. But, with the Constitution mandating that the legislature should meet at least twice a year and the gap between two sittings should not exceed six months, the State Cabinet on Thursday decided to go ahead with the session.
“The Chief Minister has asked me to hold discussions with the Assembly Speaker and Council Chairman to decide on the modalities, venue, guidelines, etc. For now, these dates have been zeroed in on for convening the session,” said Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy. Apart from approving pieces of legislation to be introduced in the House to replace ordinances passed by it, the cabinet also approved two other key decisions.
Deadline for crucial ‘crop survey’ extended by a month
The deadline for the crucial ‘crop survey’ has been extended by a month. “Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we could not create much awareness among farmers. So far, only 5.5 lakh farmers have uploaded photographs of their crops and themselves. For the benefit of farmers, we have decided to extend the deadline till September 24,” the minister said.
The cabinet also decided to hand over land title deeds to 7.46 lakh families residing in 2,615 identified slums across the state at low prices. “Title deeds for a maximum of 1,200 sqft will be handed over to those living in slums at discounted rates which will be lesser than guidance value,” the minister said.