Government of India Act 1935

General.

60 Constitution of Provincial Legislatures.

(1) There shall for every Province be a Provincial Legislature which shall consist of His Majesty, represented by the Governor, and—

(a) in the Provinces of Madras, Bombay, Bengal, the United Provinces, Bihar and Assam, two Chambers;

(b) in other Provinces, one Chamber.

(2) Where there are two Chambers of a Provincial Legislature, they shall be known respectively as the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly, and where there is only one Chamber, the Chamber shall be known as the Legislative Assembly.

61 Composition of Chambers of Provincial Legislatures.

(1) The composition of the Chamber or Chambers of the Legislature of a Province shall be such as is specified in relation to that Province in the Fifth Schedule to this Act.

(2) Every Legislative Assembly of every Province, unless sooner dissolved, shall continue for five years from the date appointed for their first meeting and no longer, and the expiration of the said period of five years shall operate as a dissolution of the Assembly.

(3) Every Legislative Council shall be a permanent body not subject to dissolution, but as near as may be one-third of the members thereof shall retire in every third year in accordance with the provision in that behalf made in relation to the Province under the said Fifth Schedule.

62 Sessions of the Legislature, prorogation and dissolution.

(1) The Chamber or Chambers of each Provincial Legislature shall be summoned to meet once at least in every year, and twelve months shall not intervene between their last sitting in one session and the date appointed for their first sitting in the next session.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Governor may in his discretion from time to time—

(a) summon the Chambers or either Chamber to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit;

(b) prorogue the Chamber or Chambers;

(c) dissolve the Legislative Assembly.

(3) The Chamber or Chambers shall be summoned to meet for the first session of the Legislature on a day not later than six months after the commencement of this Part of this Act.

63 Right of Governor to address, and send messages to, Chambers.

(1) The Governor may in his discretion address the Legislative Assembly or, in the case of a Province having a Legislative Council, either Chamber of the Provincial Legislature or both Chambers assembled together, and may for that purpose require the attendance of members.

(2) The Governor may in his discretion send messages to the Chamber or Chambers of the Provincial Legislature, whether with respect to a Bill then pending in the Legislature or otherwise, and a Chamber to whom any message is so sent shall with all convenient dispatch consider any matter which they are required by the message to take into consideration.

64 Rights of ministers and Advocate-General as respects Chambers.

Every minister and the Advocate-General shall have the right to speak in, and otherwise take part in the proceedings of, the Legislative Assembly of the Province or, in the case of a Province having a Legislative Council, both Chambers and any joint sitting of the Chambers, and to speak in, and otherwise take part in the proceedings of, any committee of the Legislature of which he may be named a member, but shall not, by virtue of this section, be entitled to vote.

65 Officers of Chambers.

(1) Every Provincial Legislative Assembly shall, as soon as may be, choose two members of the Assembly to be respectively Speaker and Deputy Speaker thereof and, so often as the office of Speaker or Deputy Speaker becomes vacant, the Assembly shall choose another member to be Speaker or Deputy Speaker, as the case may be.

(2) A member holding office as Speaker or Deputy Speaker of an Assembly shall vacate his office if he ceases to be a member of the Assembly, may at any time resign his office by writing under his hand addressed to the Governor, and may be removed from his office by a resolution of the Assembly passed by a majority of all the then members of the Assembly; but no resolution for the purpose of this subsection shall be moved unless at least fourteen days' notice has been given of the intention to move the resolution:

Provided that, whenever the Assembly is dissolved, the Speaker shall not vacate his office until immediately before the first meeting of the Assembly after the dissolution.

(3) While the office of Speaker is vacant, the duties of the office shall be performed by the Deputy Speaker or, if the office of Deputy Speaker is also vacant, by such member of the Assembly as the Governor may in his discretion appoint for the purpose, and during any absence of the Speaker from any sitting of the Assembly the Deputy Speaker or, if he is also absent, such person as may be determined by the rules of procedure of the Assembly, or, if no such person is present, such other person as may be determined by the Assembly, shall act as Speaker.

(4) There shall be paid to the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly such salaries as may be respectively fixed by Act of the Provincial Legislature, and, until provision in that behalf is so made, such salaries as the Governor may determine.

(5) In the case of a Province having a Legislative Council, the foregoing provisions of this section (other than the proviso to subsection (2) thereof) shall apply in relation to the Legislative Council as they apply in relation to the Legislative Assembly, with the substitution of the titles " President " and " Deputy President" for the titles " Speaker" and " Deputy Speaker" respectively, and with the substitution of references to the Council for references to the Assembly.

66 Voting in Chambers, power of Chambers to act notwithstanding vacancies, and quorum.

(1) Save as in this Act otherwise expressly provided, all questions in a Chamber, or a joint sitting of two Chambers, of a Provincial Legislature shall be determined by a majority of votes of the members present and voting, other than the Speaker or President, or person acting as such.

The Speaker or President, or person acting as such, shall not vote in the first instance, but shall have and exercise a casting vote in the case of an equality of votes.

(2) A Chamber of a Provincial Legislature shall have power to act notwithstanding any vacancy in the membership thereof, and any proceedings in a Provincial Legislature shall be valid notwithstanding that it is discovered subsequently that some person who was not entitled so to do, sat or voted or otherwise took part in the proceedings.

(3) If at any time during a meeting of a Provincial Legislative Assembly less than one-sixth of the total number of members of the Chamber are present, or if at any time during a meeting of a Provincial Legislative Council less than ten members are present, it shall be the duty of the Speaker or President or person acting as such either to adjourn the Chamber, or to suspend the meeting until at least one-sixth of the members, or, as the case may be, at least ten members, are present.