Thiruvananthapuram: Prior to the govt passing two bills without any scrutiny by the assembly on Monday, there had been only four instances (excluding finance bills) where bills were passed by the state legislature without subjecting them to the scrutiny of assembly committees. The first such instance was on March 30, 1987, when the Kerala Municipalities (Amendment) Bill was passed. Due to an emergency, the bill needed to be enacted and notified by April 1, 1987.
Govt, considering the urgency, waived the rules and passed the bill without sending it to the assembly committees. However, the bill was passed by voting, with participation from both the ruling front and the opposition . On June 6, 2021, the Kerala Epidemic Diseases Bill was similarly passed without the usual scrutiny, again waiving the rules and procedures due to the urgency of the matter.
The bill was passed after reaching a consensus with the opposition. On March 21, 2023, the private forest (vesting and assignment) amendment bill, 2023 was passed by the legislature in a similar fashion, when a situation had arisen when the assembly proceedings could not be taken forward. In addition to these instances, finance bills have occasionally been passed without committee scrutiny because not passing them would affect the government's ability to spend public funds.
Even in the few non-finance bill instances, quick action was necessitated by emergency situations and was done after reaching a consensus with the opposition. .