PART VI
THE STATE LEGISLATIVE - COMPOSITION OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE
46. There shall be Legislature for the State which shall consist of the Sadar-i-Riyasat and two Houses be known respectively as the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council.
47. (1) The Legislative Assembly shall consist of one hundred members chosen by direct election from territorial constituencies in the State;
Provided that the Sadar-i-Riyasat may, if he is of opinion that women are not adequately represented in the Assembly nominate not more than two women to be members thereof.
(2) For the purposes of sub-section (I), the State shall be divided into territorial constituencies in such a manner that the ratio between the population of each constituency and the number of seats allotted to it shall, so far as practicable, be the same throughout the State. Explanation: In this sub-section, the express-ion "Population' means the population as ascertained at the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been published.
(3) Upon the completion of each census, the number, extent and boundaries of the territor-ial constituencies shall be readjusted by such authority and in such manner as the Legislature may be law determine:
Provided that such readjustment shall not affect representation in the Legislative Assemb until the disolution of the then exist-ing Assembly.
48. Notwithstanding anything contained in section 47, until the area of the State under the occuptions of Pakistan ceases to so occupied and the people residing in that area elect their representatives
(a) twenty-five seats in the Legislative Assembly shall remain vacant and shall not be taken into account for reckoning the total member-ship of the Assembly; and the said area shall be excluded in delimiting the territorial Constituencies Under Section 47.
49. (I) There shall be reserved in the Lagislative Assembly for the Scheduled Castes in the State a number of seats which shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of seats in the Assembly as the popu-lation of the Scheduled Castes bears to the population of the State.
Explanation: In this sub-section:
(a) "population" has the same meaning as in sub-section (2) of section 47; and
(b) "Scheduled Castes" means the caste, races or tribes or part of, or groups within castes, races or tribes which are for the purposes of the Constitution of India deemed to be Scheduled Casts in relation to the State under the pro-visions of article 341 of that Constitution.
(2) The provisions of sub-section (1) shall cease to have effect on the expiration of a period of five years from the commencement of this Constitution:
Provided that such cesser shall not affect any representation in the Legislative Assembly until the dissolution of the then existing Assembly:
50. (1) The Legislative Council shall consist of thirty six members, chosen in the manner provided in this section.
(2) Eleven members shall be elected by the men hers of the Legislative Assembly from amongst persons who are residents of the Province of Kashmir and are not members of the Legislative Assembly.
(3) Eleven members shall be elected by the mem-bers of the Legislative Assembly from amongst persons who are residents of the Province of Jammu and are not members of the Legislative Assembly.
Provided that of the members so elected, at least one shall be a resident of Doda District and at least one shall be a resident of Poonch District.
(4) One member shall be elected by each of the following electorates, namely
(a) the members of municipal council, town area committees and notified area com-mittees in the Province of Kashmir;
(b) the members of municipal council, town area committees, and notified area committees in the Province of Jammu;
(c) permanent residents who have been for at least three years engaged in teaching in educational institutions recognised by the Government in the Province of Kashmir; and
(d) permanent residents who have been for at least three years engaged in teaching in educational institutions recognised by the Government in the Province of Jammu.
(5) Two members shall be elected by each of the following electorates, namely:
(a) the members of the Panchayats and such other local bodies in the Province of Kashmir as the Sadar-i-Riyasat may by order specify; and
(b) the members of the Panchayats and such other local bodies in the Province of Jammu as the Sadar-i-Riyasat may by order specify.
(6) Six members shall be nominated by the Sadar-i-Riyasat, not more than three of whom shall be person belonging to any of the socially or economically backward classes in the State, and the others shall be persons having special knowledge or practical experi-ence in respect of matters such as literature, science, art, co-operative movement and social service.
(7) Elections under sub-section (2) and (3) shall be held in accordance with the system of pro-portional representation by means of the single transferable vote.
GENERAL PROVISIONS
51. A person shall not be qualified to be chosen to fill a seat in the Legislature unless he:
(a) is a permanent resident of the State;
(b) is, in the case of a seat in the Legislative Assembly, not less than twenty-five years of age, and in the case of a seat in the Legisla-tive Council, not less than thirty years of age; and
(c) possesses such other qualifications as may be prescribed in that behalf by or under any law made by Legislature.
52. (1) The Legislative Assembly, unless sooner dis-solved, shall continue for five years from the date appointed for its first meeting and not longer, and the expiration of the said period of five years shall operate as a dissolution of the Assembly;
Provided that the said period may, while a Proclamation of Emergency issued under arti-cle 352 of the Constitution of India is in operation, be extended by the State Legislature by law for a period not exceeding one year at a time and not extending in any case beyond a period of six months after the Proclamation has ceased to operate.
(2) The Legislative Council shall not be subject to dissolution but as nearly as possible one-third of the members thereof shall retire, as soon as may be, on the expiration of every second year in accordance with the provisions made in that behalf by Legislature by law.
53. (1) The Sadar-i-Riyasat shall from time to time summon each House of the Legislature to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit, but six months shall not intervene between its last sitting in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session.
(2) The Sadar-i-Riyasat may from time to time...
(a) prorogue the House or either house (b) dissolve the Legislative Assembly.
54. (1) The Sadar-i-Riyasat may address either House of Legislature, or both Houses assembled together, and may for that purpose require the attendance of members.
(2) The Sadar-i-Riyasat may send messages to either House, whether with respect to a Bill then bending in the Legislature, or otherwise and a House to which any message is so sent shall with all convenient dispatch consider any matter required by the message to be taken into consideration.
55. (1) At the commencement of the first session after each general election to the Legislative Assembly and at the commencement of the first session of each year, the Sadar-i-Riyasat shall address both Houses of Legislature assembled together and inform the Legislature of the cause of its summons.
(2) Provision shall be made by the rules regulating the procedure of either House for the allot-ment of time for discussion of the matters reffered to in such address.
56. Every Minister and the Advocate General shall have the right to speak in, and otherwise to take part in the proceedings, of both Houses and to speak in, and otherwise to to 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.
OFFICERS OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE
57. The Legislative Assembly shall, as soon as may be, choose two members of the Assembly to be res-pectively Speaker and Deputy Speaker thereof and, so often at 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.
58. A member holding office as Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly:
(a) shall vacate his office if he ceases to be a member of the Assembly;
(b) may at any time by writing under his hand addressed, if such member is the Speaker, to the Deputy Speaker, and if such member is the Deputy Speaker, to the Speaker, resign his office; and
(c) may be removed from his office by a resolu-tion of the Assembly passed by a majority of all the then members of the Assembly;
Provided that no resolution for the purpose of clause (c) shall be moved unless at least fourteen days notice has been given of the intention to move the resolution.
Provided further that, whenever the Assembly is dissolved, the Speaker that not vacate his office until immediately before the first meeting of the Assembly after the dissolution.
59. (1) While the office of Speaker is vacant the duties of the office shall be performed by the Deputy Speaker or, if the office of the Deputy Speaker is also vacant, by such member of the Assembly as the Sadar-i-Riyasat may appoint for the purpose.
(2) During the 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.
60. (1) At any sitting of the Legislative Assembly, while any resolution for the removal of the Speaker from his office is under consideration, the Speaker, or while any resolution for the removal of the Deputy Speaker from his office is under consideration, the Deputy Speaker shall not, though he is present, preside and the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 59 shall apply inrelation to every such sitting as they apply in relation to a sitting from which the Speaker or, as the case may be, the Deputy Speaker is absent.
(2) The Speaker shall have the right to speak in, and otherwise to take part in the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly while any resolu-tion for his removal from office is under con-sideration in the Assembly and shall, notwith-standing anything in section 67, be entitled to vote only in the first instance on such resolu-tion or on any other matter during such pro-ceedings but not in the case of an equality of votes.
61. (1) The Legislative Council shall, as soon as may be, choose two members of the Council to be respectively Chairman and Deputy Chairman thereof and, so often as the office of the Chairman or Deputy Chairman becomes vacant, the Council shall choose another member to be Chairman or Deputy Chairman, as the case may be.
(2) The provisions of sections 58,59 and 60 shall apply in relation to the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council with the
substitution of the words "Chairman" and "Council" for the words "Speaker" and "Assembly" respectively wherever they occur in those provisions, and with the omission of the further proviso to section 58.
62. There shall be pay to the speaker and the the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and to the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council, such salaries and allowances as may be respectively fixed by Legislature by law and, until provi-sion in that behalf is so made, such salaries and allowances as are specified in the Third Schedule.
63. (1) Each House of the Legislature shall have a separate secretarial Staff:
Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall be construed as preventing the creation of posts common to both Houses.
(2) The Legislature may by law regulate the re-cruitment, and the conditions of service of persons appointed, to the secretarial staff of each House.
(3) Until provision is made by the Legislature under sub-section (2), the Sadar-i-Riyasat may, after consultation with the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly or the Chairman of the Legislative Council, as the case may be, make rules regulating the recruitment, and the con-ditions of service of persons appointed, to the secretarial staff of the Assembly or the Council, and any rules so made shall have effect subject to the provisions of any law made under the said sub-section.
CONDUCT OF BUSINESS
64. Every member of the Legislative Assembly or the Legislative Council shall before taking his seat, make and sub-scribe before the Sadar-i-Riyasat or some person appointed in that behalf by him an oath or affirmation according to the form set out for the purpose in the Fifth Schedule.
65. Save as otherwise provided by the rules of proce-dure of the House, the quorum to constitute a meeting of the Legislative Assembly and of the Legislative Council shall be twenty and ten re-spectively.
66. A House of the Legislature shall have power to act notwithstanding any vacancy in the membership thereof, and any proceedings in the Legislature shall be valid notwithstanding that it is discovered subsequently that some person who was not entitl-ed so to do sat or voted or otherwise took part in the proceedings.
67. (1) Save as otherwise provided in this Constitu-tion, all questions at any sitting of a House of the Legislature shall be determined by a majority of votes of the members present and voting, other than the Speaker or Chairman, or person acting as such.
(2) The Speaker or Chairman, 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.