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    Types of Questions

    Questions are divided into the following three categories:

    • Short Notice Questions
    • Starred Questions
    • Unstarred Questions

    Short Notice Questions

    • A Short Notice Question refers to a question related to a matter of urgent public importance. These questions are distinguished by placing two asterisks () before them**. Supplementary questions arising from the given answer may be asked with the permission of the Hon’ble Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
    • When a member wishes to ask a Short Notice Question, they must submit a written notice to the Secretary at least three full days in advance. The Secretary, usually within 24 hours of receiving the question, seeks approval from the Hon’ble Speaker on its admissibility as a Short Notice Question.
    • Once the Speaker grants approval, a copy of the question is sent to the concerned Minister with a request to inform the Secretary whether they can answer the question on short notice.
    • If the Minister agrees, the question is included in the agenda of the Assembly immediately or as directed by the Speaker. However, no more than 2 Short Notice Questions are included in the agenda for a single day.
    • If the Minister is unable to answer on short notice, but the Speaker believes the matter holds sufficient public importance, they may direct that the question be given priority in the question list on the day it is scheduled to be answered as a Starred Question. The number of such priority questions cannot exceed three per day, and a single member cannot have more than one question prioritized.
    • When two or more members submit Short Notice Questions on the same subject and one member’s question is admitted, the names of the other members are also listed alongside the accepted question.
    • The Speaker may also direct that all similar notices be consolidated into one comprehensive question that covers all significant points raised by different members. The Minister then answers the consolidated question, and the names of all members who submitted notices are displayed in order of priority.

    Starred Questions

    • A Starred Question is one where supplementary questions may be asked after receiving the reply, with the permission of the Speaker. These questions are marked with one asterisk (*).
    • Members must give at least 20 days’ written notice for a Starred Question. The Legislative Assembly Secretariat usually forwards these questions to the Government within 5 days.
    • Unless the Speaker decides otherwise, a question is not included in the question list for oral answers until 15 days have passed since the concerned Minister or Department received the notice.
    • If the Speaker believes that more time is required to decide on the admissibility of a question, it may be scheduled for a later date than originally prescribed under the rules.

    Unstarred Questions

    • An Unstarred Question refers to a question for which a written reply is provided to the member and no supplementary questions are allowed.
    • The procedure for submitting Unstarred Questions is the same as that for Starred Questions.

    Days Fixed for Oral Answers

    • The Speaker, with the approval of the Legislative Assembly, allocates different days of the week to different Ministers/departments for answering questions.
    • Unless the Speaker directs otherwise, only questions related to the Ministers scheduled for that particular day are included in the agenda. This rule does not apply to Short Notice Questions.

    Procedure for Asking Questions in the House

    • During Question Hour, the Speaker calls the members in order, giving due regard to the priority of the questions, or in any other manner the Speaker deems fit.
    • When called, a member must stand up to indicate their presence. If the member is absent, the Speaker moves to the next question.

    Procedure for Giving Notice of Questions

    • Questions must be addressed to the concerned departmental Minister and submitted in writing to the Secretary.
    • All questions received on the same day are considered as having been received on that day, regardless of the dates written by the member on the notice.

    Allocation of Days for Answering Questions

    • Under Rule 36 of the Rules of Procedure, the Speaker has the authority to cyclically allocate days for answering questions.
    • As per the Speaker’s orders, the Legislative Assembly Secretariat periodically issues a list of days allocated to different administrative departments.
    • Departments must collect this updated list from the Question Section of the Secretariat and prepare answers accordingly. This ensures that Ministers are well-informed to respond to questions and supplementary questions during the session.

    Limit on the Number of Questions

    • A member can submit a maximum of five questions in a single day. This includes Short Notice, Starred, and Unstarred Questions. If more than five are submitted, only the first five will be accepted, and the rest will be rejected.
    • For oral answers, the daily question list cannot have more than 20 Starred Questions, and a member cannot have more than 3 Starred Questions on a single day.
    • However, the number of Unstarred Questions scheduled for a day generally does not exceed 100.