History
In 1956, the State of Kerala was formed on linguistic basis, mergingNiyamasabha Complex
The State Assembly is known as Niyamasabha and is housed in New Legislature Complex. This 5 storied complex is one of the largest complexes in India. The Central Hall is described as most elegant and majestic hall with ornamental Teakwood-Rosewood panelling. The older Assembly was located within State Secretariat complex which was reconverted into Legislature museum, after commissioning new complex in 1998 May 22 (15th Kerala Legislative Assembly
Speakers of the Kerala Legislative Assembly
Source:Composition
The Assembly consists of 140 Members known as Members of Legislative Assembly- MLA representing each constituency. The qualifications needed to become an MLA are almost similar to the eligibility criteria for an MP. Besides being a citizen of India, the individual should not be less than 25 years of age. On a more fundamental note, a person, who is not a voter from any constituency of the state, is not eligible to become an MLA. It's to be noted that an MLA is elected by the people of a particular constituency, and the MLA represents those electorates in the Legislative Assembly. MLAs enjoy the same position in the state as MPs on a national level.Responsibilities of Legislators
The principal responsibility of an MLA is to represent the people's grievances and aspirations and take them up with the state government. An MLA has the power to utilise several legislative tools including 'calling attention motion' to raise issues concerning his/her constituency. It's also expected of the MLA to raise the issues with the relevant government agency and minister. As a legislator, his cardinal role will be to make optimum use of the Local Area Development (LAD) fund in a bid to develop his constituency.Appointment of Speaker
The Speaker is the primary official of the Assembly. The Assembly elects the Speaker from among its own members. While the Speaker still represents his constituency, he remains an impartial chair of the Assembly and refrains from debating. When a new assembly is formed, the political party/alliance which is invited by the Governor to form a government, nominates one among them as Pro-term Speaker. The Pro-Term speaker swears in front of Governor and opens the new assembly's first session. He oversees swearing-in ceremony of all legislators at the assembly hall and then becomes the returning officer for the Speaker Election. The Leader of the House,Officials
The speaker is assisted by Legislative Secretariat. The head of Secretariat is Legislative Secretary. The Legislative secretary is the Executive chief of the Assembly and reports only to Speaker and house directly. The Legislative secretary is supported by 2 Additional Secretaries, Joint Secretaries and Assistant Secretaries. There are under-secretaries for each committee topic and officers in charge. The Chief Curator manages the entire house activities including housekeeping, maintenance and safety measures. The Chief Editor manages an editorial team to draft questions raised by public and legislators as well as manages answers notes, legislative records, executive orders and archival matters. The Chief Librarian manages the Central Library and Legislative Research cell of Niyamasabha.Security
From days of MonarchyCommittees
Statutory Committee
The Niyamasabha consists of following committees which are statutory in nature and cannot be disbanded, though the members do change. 1. Business Advisory Committee (BAC) The BAC is the primary committee to decide the agendas to be listed in each session of the assembly. As a convention, the opposition leader will be the head of the committee with leaders of each parliamentary party subjected to a maximum of 8 members. Speaker of the house is a permanent invitee to this committee. 2. Committee on Environment 3. Committee on Estimates 4. Committee on Government Assurances 5. Committee on Local Fund Accounts 6. Committee on Official Language 7. Committee on Papers Laid on the Table 8. Committee on Petitions 9. Committee on Private Members' Bills and Resolutions 10. Committee on Privileges and Ethics 11. Committee on Public Accounts 12. Committee on Public Undertakings 13. Committee on Subordinate Legislation 14. Committee on the Welfare of Backward Class Communities 15. Committee on the Welfare of Fishermen and Allied Workers 16. Committee on the Welfare of Non-resident Keralites 17. Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes 18. Committee on the Welfare of Senior Citizens 19. Committee on the Welfare of Women, Children and Physically Handicapped 20. Committee on the Welfare of Youth and Youth Affairs 21. House Committee 22. Library Advisory Committee 23. Rules CommitteeSubject Committee
Apart from the statutory committee, the assembly has a subject committee for each Department of Government. Though they are not statutory in nature, its established by the house on regular basis to monitor and control executive decisions of each department when a specific bill intended to make into a legislation comes before assembly. Normally when a bill is presented and amendments or disputes arise, the bills are sent to a subject committee specifically formed such departmental activity. As per Kerala Legislature Rules, the following committees are regularly established in the house. 1. Subject Committee - I:- Departments of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries 2. Subject Committee - II:- Land Revenue, Land usage, wetland protection, Endowments and Devaswom 3. Subject Committee - III:- Water Resources, Irrigation projects and Dam safety 4. Subject Committee - IV:- Industry and Minerals 5. Subject Committee - V:- Public Works, Transport & Communications 6. Subject Committee - VI:- Education 7. Subject Committee - VII:- Power, Labor and Labor Welfare 8. Subject Committee - VIII:- Economic Affairs 9. Subject Committee - IX:- Local Administration, Rural Development and Housing 10. Subject Committee - X:- Forest, Environment and Tourism 11. Subject Committee - XI:- Food, Civil Supplies and Co-operation 12. Subject Committee - XII:- Health and Family Welfare 13. Subject Committee - XIII:- Social Service 14. Subject Committee - XIV:- Home and Security AffairsAd-Hoc Committee
Time-to-time, the assembly can form an ad-hoc committee for business as laid by a motion passed by the house.See also
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Further reading
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