(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
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.
(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.
(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.
Every member of a Provincial Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council shall, before taking his seat, make and subscribe before the Governor, or some person appointed by him, an oath according to that one of the forms set out in the Fourth Schedule to this Act which the member accepts as appropriate in his case.
(1)No person shall be a member of both Chambers of a Provincial Legislature, and rules made by the Governor exercising his individual judgment shall provide for the vacation by a person who is chosen a member of both Chambers of his seat in one Chamber or the other.
(2)No person shall be a member both of the Federal Legislature and of a Provincial Legislature and if a person is chosen a member both of the Federal Legislature and of a Provincial Legislature, then, at the expiration of such period as may be specified in rules made by the Governor of the Province exercising his individual judgment, that person's seat in the Provincial Legislature shall become vacant, unless he has previously resigned his seat in the Federal Legislature.
(3)If a member of a Chamber—
(a)becomes subject to any of the disqualifications mentioned in subsection (1) of the next succeeding section; or
(b)by writing under his hand addressed to the Governor resigns his seat,
his seat shall thereupon become vacant.
(4)If for sixty days a member of a Chamber is without permission of the Chamber absent from all meetings thereof, the Chamber may declare his seat vacant:
Provided that in computing the said period of sixty days no account shall be taken of any period during which the Chamber is prorogued, or is adjourned for more than four consecutive days.
(1)A person shall be disqualified for being chosen as, and for being, a member of a Provincial Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council—
(a)if he holds any office of profit under the Crown in India, other than an office declared by Act of the Provincial Legislature not to disqualify its holder;
(b)if he is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent court;
(c)if he is an undischarged insolvent;
(d)if, whether before or after the commencement of this Part of this Act, he has been convicted or has, in proceedings for questioning the validity or regularity of an election, been found to have been guilty, of any offence or corrupt or illegal practice relating to elections which has been declared by Order in Council, or by an Act of the Provincial Legislature, to be an offence or practice entailing disqualification for membership of the Legislature, unless such period has elapsed as may be specified in that behalf in the provisions of that Order or Act;
(e)if, whether before or after the commencement of this Part of this Act, he has been convicted of any other offence by a court in British India or in a State which is a Federated State and sentenced to transportation or to imprisonment for not less than two years, unless a period of five years, or such less period as the Governor, acting in his discretion, may allow in any particular case, has elapsed since his release;
(f)if, having been nominated as a candidate for the Federal or any Provincial Legislature or having acted as an election agent of any person so nominated, he has failed to lodge a return of election expenses within the time and in the manner required by any Order in Council made under this Act or by any Act of the Federal or the Provincial Legislature, unless five years have elapsed from the date by which the return ought to have been lodged or the Governor, acting in his discretion, has removed the disqualification:
Provided that a disqualification under paragraph (f) of this subsection shall not take effect until the expiration of one month from the date by which the return ought to have been lodged or of such longer period as the Governor, acting in his discretion, may in any particular case allow.
(2)A person shall not be capable of being chosen a member of a Chamber of a Provincial Legislature while he is serving a sentence of transportation or of imprisonment for a criminal offence.
(3)Where a person who, by virtue of a. conviction or a conviction and a sentence, becomes disqualified by virtue of paragraph (d) or paragraph (e) of subsection (1) of this section is at the date of the disqualification a member of a Chamber, his seat shall, notwithstanding anything in this or the last preceding section, not become vacant by reason of the disqualification until three months have elapsed from the date thereof or, if within those three months an appeal or petition for revision is brought in respect of the conviction or the sentence, until that appeal or petition is disposed of, but during any period during which his membership is preserved by this subsection, he shall not sit or vote.
(4)For the purposes of this section a person shall not be deemed to hold an office of profit under the Crown in India by reason only that he is a minister either for the Federation or for a Province.
If a person sits or votes as a member of a Provincial Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council when he is not qualified or is disqualified for membership thereof, or when he is prohibited from so doing by the provisions of subsection (3) of the last preceding section, he shall be liable in respect of each day on which he so sits or votes to a penalty of five hundred rupees to be recovered as a debt due to the Province.
(1)Subject to the provisions of this Act and to rules and standing orders regulating the procedure of the Legislature, there shall be freedom of speech in every Provincial Legislature, and no member of the Legislature shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or any vote given by him in the Legislature or any committee thereof, and no person shall be so liable in respect of the publication by or under the authority of a Chamber of such a Legislature of any report, paper, votes or proceedings.
(2)In other respects the privileges of members of a Chamber of a Provincial Legislature shall be such as may from time to time be defined by Act of the Provincial Legislature, and, until so defined, shall be such as were immediately before the commencement of this Part of this Act enjoyed by members of the Legislative Council of the Province.
(3)Nothing in any existing Indian law, and, notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this section, nothing in this Act, shall be construed as conferring, or empowering any Legislature to confer, on a Chamber thereof or on both Chambers sitting together or any committee or officer of the Legislature, the status of a court, or any punitive or disciplinary powers other than the power to remove or exclude persons infringing the rules or standing orders, or otherwise behaving in a disorderly manner.
(4)Provision may be made by an Act of the Provincial Legislature for the punishment, on conviction before a court, of persons who refuse to give evidence or produce documents before a committee of a Chamber when duly required by the chairman of a committee so to do :
Provided that any such Act shall have effect subject to such rules for regulating the attendance before such committees of persons who are, or have been, in the service of the Crown in India, and safeguarding confidential matter from disclosure, as may be made by the Governor exercising his individual judgment.
(5)The provisions of subsections (1) and (2) of this section shall apply in relation to persons who by virtue of this Act have the right to speak in and otherwise take part in the proceedings of a Chamber as they apply in relation to members of the Legislature.
Members of Provincial Legislative Assemblies and Legislative Councils shall be entitled to receive such salaries and allowances as may from time to time be determined by Act of the Provincial Legislature, and until provision in that respect is so made, allowances at such rates and upon such conditions as were immediately before the commencement of this Part of this Act applicable in the case of members of the Legislative Council of the Province.
(1)Subject to the special provisions of this Part of this Act with respect to financial Bills, a Bill may originate in either Chamber of the Legislature of a Province which has a Legislative Council.
(2)A Bill pending in the Legislature of a Province shall not lapse by reason of the prorogation of the Chamber or Chambers thereof.
(3)A Bill pending in the Legislative Council of a Province which has not been passed by the Legislative Assembly shall not lapse on a dissolution of the Assembly.
(4)A Bill which is pending in the Legislative Assembly of a Province, or which having been passed by the Legislative Assembly is pending in the Legislative Council, shall lapse on a dissolution of the Assembly.
(1)Subject to the provisions of this section, a Bill shall not be deemed to have been passed by the Chambers of the Legislature of a Province having a Legislative Council, unless it has been agreed to by both Chambers, either without amendments or with such amendments only as are agreed to by both Chambers.
(2)If a Bill which has been passed by the Legislative Assembly and transmitted to the Legislative Council is not, before the expiration of twelve months from its reception by the Council, presented to the Governor for his assent, the Governor may summon the Chambers to meet in a joint sitting for the purpose of deliberating and voting on the Bill:
Provided that, if it appears to the Governor that the Bill relates to finance or affects the discharge of any of his special responsibilities, he may summon the Chambers to meet in a joint sitting for the purpose aforesaid notwithstanding that the said period of twelve months has not elapsed.
The functions of the Governor under the proviso to this subsection shall be exercised by him in his discretion.
(3)If at a joint sitting of the two Chambers summoned in accordance with the provisions of this section the Bill, with such amendments, if any, as are agreed to in joint sitting, is passed by a majority of the total number of members of both Chambers present and voting, it shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to have been passed by both Chambers:
Provided that at a joint sitting—
(a)unless the Bill has been passed by the Legislative Council with amendments and returned to the Legislative Assembly, no amendment shall be proposed to the Bill other than such amendments, if any, as are made necessary by the delay in the passage of the Bill;
(b)if the Bill has been so passed and returned by the Legislative Council, only such amendments as aforesaid shall be proposed to the Bill and such other amendments as are relevant to the matters with respect to which the Chambers have not agreed,
and the decision of the person presiding as to the amendments which are admissible under this subsection shall be final.
A Bill which has been passed by the Provincial Legislative Assembly of, in the case of a Province having a Legislative Council, has been passed by both Chambers of the Provincial Legislature, shall be presented to the Governor, and the Governor in his discretion shall declare either that he assents in His Majesty's name to the Bill, or that he withholds assent therefrom, or that he reserves the Bill for the consideration of the Governor-General :
Provided that the Governor may in his discretion return the Bill together with a message requesting that the Chamber or Chambers will reconsider the Bill or any specified provisions thereof and, in particular, will consider the desirability of introducing any such amendments as he may recommend' in his message and, when a Bill is so returned, the Chamber or Chambers shall reconsider it accordingly.
(1)When a Bill is reserved by a Governor for the consideration of the Governor-General, the Governor-General shall in his discretion declare, either that he assents in His Majesty's name to the Bill, or that he withholds assent therefrom, or that he reserves the Bill for the signification of His Majesty's pleasure thereon :
Provided that the Governor-General may, if he in his discretion thinks fit, direct the Governor to return the Bill to the Chamber, or, as the case may be, the Chambers, of the Provincial Legislature together with such a message as is mentioned in the proviso to the last preceding section and, when a Bill is so returned, the Chamber or Chambers shall reconsider it accordingly and, if it is again passed by them with or without amendment, it shall be presented again to the Governor-General for his consideration.
(2)A Bill reserved for the signification of His Majesty's pleasure shall not become an Act of the Provincial Legislature unless and until, within twelve months from the day on which it was presented to the Governor, the Governor makes known by public notification that His Majesty has assented thereto.
Any Act assented to by the Governor or the Governor-General may be disallowed by His Majesty within twelve months from the date of the assent, and where any Act is so disallowed the Governor shall forthwith make the disallowance known by public notification and as from the date of the notification the Act shall become void.
(1)The Governor shall in respect of every financial year cause to be laid before the Chamber or Chambers of the Legislature a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Province for that year, in this Part of this Act referred to as the " annual financial statement."
(2)The estimates of expenditure embodied in the annual financial statement shall show separately—
(a)the sums required to meet expenditure described by this Act as expenditure charged upon the revenues of the Province; and
(b)the sums required to meet other expenditure proposed to be made from the revenues of the Province,
and shall distinguish expenditure on revenue account from other expenditure, and indicate the sums, if any, which are included solely because the Governor has directed their inclusion as being necessary for the due discharge of any of his special responsibilities.
(3)The following expenditure shall be expenditure charged on the revenues of each Province—
(a)the salary and allowances of the Governor and other expenditure relating to his office for which provision is required to be made by Order in Council;
(b)debt charges for which the Province is liable, including interest, sinking fund charges and redemption charges, and other expenditure relating to the raising of loans and the service and redemption of debt;
(c)the salaries and allowances of ministers, and of the Advocate-General;
(d)expenditure in respect of the salaries and allowances of judges of any High Court;
(e)expenditure connected with the administration of any areas which are for the time being excluded areas;
(f)any sums required to satisfy any judgment, decree or award of any court or arbitral tribunal;
(g)any other expenditure declared by this Act or any Act of the Provincial Legislature to be so charged.
(4)Any question whether any proposed expenditure falls within a class of expenditure charged on the revenues of the Province shall be decided by the Governor in his discretion.
(1)So much of the estimates of expenditure as relates to expenditure charged upon the revenues of a Province shall not be submitted to the vote of the Legislative Assembly, but nothing in this subsection shall be construed as preventing the discussion in the Legislature of those estimates, other than estimates relating to expenditure referred to in paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of the last preceding section.
(2)So much of the said estimates as relates to other expenditure shall be submitted, in the form of demands for grants, to the Legislative Assembly, and the Legislative Assembly shall have power to assent, or to refuse to assent, to any demand, or to assent to a demand subject to a reduction of the amount specified therein.
(3)No demand for a grant shall be made except on the recommendation of the Governor.
(1)The Governor shall authenticate by his signature a schedule specifying—
(a)the grants made by the Assembly under the last preceding section;
(b)the several sums required to meet the expenditure charged on the revenues of the Province but not exceeding, in the case of any sum, the sum shown in the statement previously laid before the Chamber or Chambers:
Provided that, if the Assembly have refused to assent to any demand for a grant or have assented to such a demand subject to a reduction of the amount specified therein, the Governor may, if in his opinion the refusal or reduction would affect the due discharge of any of his special responsibilities, include in the schedule such additional amount, if any, not exceeding the amount of the rejected demand or the reduction, as the case may be, as appears to him necessary in order to enable him to discharge that responsibility.
(2)The schedule so authenticated shall be laid before the Assembly but shall not be open to discussion or vote in the Legislature.
(3)Subject to the provisions of the next succeeding section, no expenditure from the revenues of the Province shall be deemed to be duly authorised unless it is specified in the schedule so authenticated.
If in respect of any financial year further expenditure from the revenues of the Province becomes necessary over and above the expenditure theretofore authorised for that year, the Governor shall cause to be laid before the Chamber or Chambers a supplementary statement showing the estimated amount of that expenditure, and the provisions of the preceding sections shall have effect in relation to that statement and that expenditure as they have effect in relation to the annual financial statement and the expenditure mentioned therein.
(1)A Bill or amendment making provision—
(a)for imposing or increasing any tax; or
(b)for regulating the borrowing of money or the giving of any guarantee by the Province, or for amending the law with respect to any financial obligations undertaken or to be undertaken by the Province; or
(c)for declaring any expenditure to be expenditure charged on the revenues of the Province, or for increasing the amount of any such expenditure,
shall not be introduced or moved except on the recommendation of the Governor, and a Bill making such provision shall not be introduced in a Legislative Council.
(2)A Bill or amendment shall not be deemed to make provision for any of the purposes aforesaid by reason only that it provides for the imposition of fines or other pecuniary penalties, or for the demand and payment of fees for licences or fees for services rendered.
(3)A Bill which, if enacted and brought into operation, would involve expenditure from the revenues of a Province shall not be passed by a Chamber of the Legislature unless the Governor has recommended to that Chamber the consideration of the Bill.
(1)If in the last complete financial year before the commencement of this Part of this Act a grant for the benefit of the Anglo-Indian and European communities or either of them was included in the grants made in any Province for education, then in each subsequent financial year, not being a year in which the Provincial Legislative Assembly otherwise resolve by a majority which includes at least three-fourths of the members of the Assembly, a grant shall be made for the benefit of the said community or communities not less in amount than the average of the grants made for its or their benefit in the ten financial years ending on the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and thirty-three :
Provided that, if in any financial year the total grant for education in the Province is less than the average of the total grants for education in the Province in the said ten financial years, then, whatever fraction the former may be of the latter, any grant made under this subsection in that financial year for the benefit of the said community or communities need not exceed that fraction of the average of the grants made for its or their benefit in the said ten financial years.
In computing for the purposes of this subsection the amount of any grants, grants for capital purposes shall be included.
(2)The provisions of this section shall cease to have effect in a Province if at any time the Provincial Legislative Assembly resolve by a majority which includes at least three-fourths of the members of the Assembly that those provisions shall cease to have effect.
(3)Nothing in this section affects the special responsibility of the Governor of a Province for the safeguarding of the legitimate interests of minorities.
(1)A Chamber of a Provincial Legislature may make rules for regulating, subject to the provisions of this Act, their procedure and the conduct of their business:
Provided that, as regards either a Legislative Assembly or a Legislative Council, the Governor shall in his discretion, after consultation with the Speaker or the President, as the case may be, make rules—
(a)for regulating the procedure of, and the conduct of business in, the Chamber in relation to any matter which affects the discharge of his functions in so far as he is by or under this Act required to act in his discretion or to exercise his individual judgment;
(b)for securing the timely completion of financial business;
(c)for prohibiting the discussion of, or the asking of questions on, any matter connected with any Indian State unless the Governor in his discretion is satisfied that the matter affects the interests of the Provincial Government or of a British subject ordinarily resident in the Province, and has given his consent to the matter being discussed, or to the question being asked;
(d)for prohibiting, save with the consent of the Governor in his discretion—
(i)the discussion of or the asking of questions on any matter connected with relations between His Majesty or the Governor-General and any foreign State or Prince; or
(ii)the discussion, except in relation to estimates of expenditure, of, or the asking of questions on, any matters connected with the tribal areas or arising out of or affecting the administration of an excluded area; or
(iii)the discussion of, or the asking of questions on, the personal conduct of the Ruler of any Indian State or of a member of the ruling family thereof;
and, if and in so far as any rule so made by the Governor is inconsistent with any rule made by a Chamber, the rule made by the Governor shall prevail.
(2)In a Province having a Legislative Council the Governor, after consultation with the Speaker and the President, may make rules as to the procedure with respect to joint sittings of, and communications between, the two Chambers.
The said rules shall make such provision for the purposes specified in the proviso to the preceding subsection as the Governor in his discretion may think fit.
(3)Until rules are made under this section the rules of procedure and standing orders in force immediately before the commencement of this Part of this Act with respect to the Legislative Council of the Province shall have effect in relation to the Legislature of the Province, subject to such modifications and adaptations as may be made therein by the Governor acting in his discretion.
(4)At a joint sitting of two Chambers the President of the Legislative Council, or in his absence such person as may be determined by rules of procedure made under this section, shall preside.
All proceedings in the Legislature of a Province shall be conducted in the English language:
Provided that the rules of procedure of the Chamber or Chambers, and the rules, if any, with respect to joint sittings, shall provide for enabling persons unacquainted, or not sufficiently acquainted, with the English language to use another language.
(1)No discussion shall take place in a Provincial Legislature with respect to the conduct of any judge of the Federal Court or of a High Court in the discharge of his duties.
In this subsection the reference to a High Court shall be construed as including a reference to a court in a Federated State which is a High Court for any of the purposes of Part I)( of this Act.
(2)If the Governor in his discretion certifies that the discussion of a Bill introduced or proposed to be introduced in the Provincial Legislature, or of any specified clause of a Bill, or of any amendment moved or proposed to be moved to a Bill, would affect the discharge of his special responsibility for the prevention of any grave menace to the peace or tranquillity of the Province or any part thereof, he may in his discretion direct that no proceedings, or no further proceedings, shall be taken in relation to the Bill, clause or amendment, and effect shall be given to the direction.
(1)The validity of any proceedings in a Provincial Legislature shall not be called in question on the ground of any alleged irregularity of procedure.
(2)No officer or other member of a Provincial Legislature in whom powers are vested by or under this Act for regulating procedure or the conduct of business, or for maintaining order, in the Legislature shall be subject to the jurisdiction of any court in respect of the exercise by him of those powers.