Delhi Assembly's maiden paperless session conducted 19-hour legislative deliberations: Speaker

New Delhi, Aug 9 (IANS) Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta on Saturday said that the maiden paperless session of the House concluded after legislative deliberations which lasted 19 hours and 40 minutes and included passage of key Education and GST Bills.

“The Third session of Eighth Legislative Assembly concluded, total matters discussed in 19 hours and 40 minutes,” said Gupta while addressing the media.

The session commenced on August 4 and was adjourned sine die on August 8 after five sittings, he said.

Gupta stated that summons for the session were issued on July 28 and the sittings were held on August 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

He stated that the House conducted extensive deliberations on legislative, financial, and public welfare matters during this period.

During this period, 171 Special Mention notices were received under Rule 280, of which 62 matters were raised on the floor of the House.

Gupta said that these matters, covering a wide range of civic, administrative, and policy concerns, have been referred to the departments concerned with directions to furnish replies to the members within 30 days.

He added that three significant legislations were passed during the session. These included The Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Bill, 2025, introduced by Ashish Sood, Minister of Education, which was discussed over two days with participation from 24 members before being passed by voice vote.

He informed that the Delhi Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2025 and The Delhi Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2025, both introduced by Chief Minister and Minister of Finance Rekha Gupta, were also passed by voice vote after due consideration.

Gupta added that several important papers and reports were laid on the table of the House during the session. These included the Finance and Appropriation Accounts of GNCTD for 2023–24, the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Finance and Appropriation Accounts, State Finances, and Welfare of Building and Other Construction Workers.

He said reports from regulatory and educational bodies such as the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission, Geospatial Delhi Ltd., Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi were also laid on the table.

He informed that the CAG report on the welfare of construction workers was referred to the Public Accounts Committee for further examination.

The Speaker informed that the House passed congratulatory motions under Rule 114 to honour astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla for his mission to the International Space Station and to mark the launch of the NISAR satellite on July 28.

He said during the sittings congratulations were extended to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the armed forces, security agencies, and intelligence agencies for the successful execution of Operation Sindoor and Operation Mahadev.

He said that a total of 20 members participated in the related discussion, including Abhay Verma, Chief Whip, and the Chief Minister.

--IANS

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