Monsoon session of Gujarat assembly to start from Sept 13, President Murmu to address House on first day

The four-day monsoon session of the Gujarat legislative assembly will commence from September 13 in state capital Gandhinagar, where President Droupadi Murmu will address the House and also inaugurate the National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) project on the first day, officials said on Tuesday.

Apart from the regular business, nine bills will be discussed in the assembly during these four days, including the 'Gujarat Common Universities Bill, 2023', which the Congress said will oppose vehemently, claiming that it aims to end student politics.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state would also bring two resolutions hailing the Narendra Modi government for the success of G20 summit and Chandrayaan-3 mission, a member of the business advisory committee of the assembly said.

On the first day of the session, President Murmu will inaugurate the National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) project of the Gujarat assembly and address legislators, a statement issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan said.

The NeVA project has been implemented on the concept of 'One Nation, One Application' of PM Modi with the aim to make the assembly operations paperless, the assembly secretariat said in a release, adding that all the MLAs were already given training to access and operate the NeVA application using a tablet.

One of the important bills that will be tabled for discussion and approval is the 'Gujarat Common Universities Bill, 2023', an official said.

The opposition Congress said it will vehemently oppose this Bill because once it becomes an Act, it will end student politics in the state as it proposes to discontinue the senate and syndicate bodies in government-run universities.

"Through this Bill, the BJP government wants to take full control of universities. Instead of senate and syndicate, which accommodates members from all parties through elections, the varsities will have a board of management and its members will be appointed by the government," senior Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar said.

According to him, opposition MLAs will raise issues concerning people, such as inflation and unemployment, during the four-day long monsoon session.

"Apart from the question hour, nine bills and two government resolutions will be discussed during these four days. This session is more focussed on pro-government business rather than pro-people government. We will raise issues concerning people and try to corner the government," Parmar said.

Other Bills, which will be tabled during the session, include a bill to amend various taxation laws in Gujarat and another bill to bring certain changes in the Gujarat Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, an official said.