The Parliament – Sessions of Parliament

• (Article 79 to 122 of Part V)
• Parliament is the legislative organ of the Union Government.
• Since, India has a Parliamentary system, hence Parliament occupies the central Position.
• Indian Parliament has three broad parts, namely – The President, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Sessions of Parliament

• The time period during which the Parliament meets to conduct its procedures and business is known as a Sessions of Parliament.
• A session of Parliament is the period between first sitting of a house and its prorogation (prorogation puts an end to the session of a house).
• During a session, the House meets every day to transact business.
• The period spanning between the prorogation of a House and its reassembly in a new session is called ‘recess’.

Summoning of a Session

• • The Constitution empowers the President to summon each House at such intervals that there should not be more than a six-month gap between the two sessions. Hence the Parliament must meet at least twice a year.
  • In India, the Parliament conducts three sessions each year –
    • 1. Budget session – February to May
      2. Monsoon session – July to September
      3. Winter session – November to December

 

Adjournment of a Session

• • Session of Parliament consist of many sittings.
  • Each meeting in a day consists of two sittings, Morning sitting from 11 am to 1 pm and after lunch sitting from 2 pm to 6 pm.
  • A sitting of Parliament can be terminated by adjournment or adjournment sine die or prorogation or dissolution.
  • The power of adjournment lies with the presiding officer of the House.
  • It merely postpones further the proceedings of the house for a specific period of time, which may be hours, days or weeks. It has no effect on pending proceedings like notices, motions, resolutions, or bills.

Adjournment Sine Die

• • • It means terminating a sitting of Parliament for an indefinite period.
    • In other words, when the House is adjourned without naming a day for reassembly, it is called adjournment sine die.
    • The power of adjournment as well as adjournment sine die lies with the presiding officer of the House.

 

Prorogation of a Session

• • Prorogation means the termination of a session of the House by an order made by the President.
  • Prorogation terminates (ends) both the sitting and session of the House.
  • Usually, within a few days after the House is adjourned sine die by the presiding officer, the President issues a notification for the prorogation of the session. However, the President can also prorogue the House while in session.
  • The time between the Prorogation and reassembly is called Recess.

 

Dissolution of a Session

• • A dissolution ends the very life of the existing House, and a new House is constituted after general elections.
  • As Rajya Sabha is a permanent house, hence, is not subject to dissolution. Only the Lok Sabha is subject to dissolution.
  • The dissolution of the Lok Sabha may take place in either of two ways –

1. 1. 1. 1. Automatic Dissolution – On the expiry of its tenure – 5 years or the terms as extended During a national emergency.
         2. On Order of President – If President is authorized by Cabinet of Ministers, he can dissolve Lok Sabha, even before the end of the term. He may also dissolve Lok Sabha if Cabinet of Ministers loses confidence and no party is able to form the government. Once the Lok Sabha is dissolved before the completion of its normal tenure, the dissolution is irrevocable.

• • When the Lok Sabha is dissolved, all business including bills, motions, resolutions, notices, petitions and so on pending before it or its committees lapse. They must be reintroduced in the newly elected Lok Sabha.
    1. The position with respect to lapsing of bills is as follows –
    2. A bill pending in the Lok Sabha lapses.
    3. A bill passed by the Lok Sabha but pending in the Rajya Sabha lapses.
    4. A bill not passed by the two Houses due to disagreement and if the president has notified the holding of a joint sitting before the dissolution of Lok Sabha, does not lapse.
    5. A bill pending in the Rajya Sabha but not passed by the Lok Sabha does not lapse.
    6. A bill passed by both Houses but pending assent of the president does not lapse.
    7. A bill passed by both Houses but returned by the president for reconsideration of Houses does not lapse.

 

Comparison between Adjournment, Prorogation and Dissolution

 

Quorum

• • Quorum refers to the minimum number of the members required to be present for conducting business of the house.
  • Constitution has fixed one-tenth strength as quorum for both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha including the presiding officer.
  • Thus, to conduct a sitting of Lok Sabha, there should be at least 55 members present while to conduct a sitting of Rajya Sabha, there should be at least 25 members present.
  • If required number of members are not present in the house, the Presiding officer either adjourns the house or suspends the meeting till the quorum.

 

Voting in House

• • All matters in either House or in a joint sitting are decided by the majority of votes of the members present and voting excluding the Presiding Officer.
  • Some exceptions includes – Impeachment of President, Amendment of Constitution, Removal of Presiding officer, etc. requires special majority.
  • The presiding officer of a House does not vote in the first instance, but exercises a casting vote in the case of an equality of votes.

 

Language in Parliament

• • Constitution declares Hindi and English as the language for the proceeding in the Parliament.
  • The Presiding officer can allow a member to address the house in mother tounge.
  • There are arrangements for simultaneous translations.
  • The constitution had provided that the English as language of the house would discontinue by 1965, but the Official Languages Act 1963 allowed it to be used along with Hindi as language of parliamentary business.

 

President’s Address

• • The speech delivered by the President of India to both Houses of Parliament assembled together at the commencement of the first session after each general election to Lok Sabha and at the commencement of the first session of each year.

 

Participation of Ministers

• • A minister can participate in the proceedings of any house of the parliament irrespective of his own house in which he holds membership.
  • But, he can vote only in the house in which he holds membership.
  • A minister, who is not a member of either House, can participate in the proceedings of both the Houses. It should be noted here that a person can remain a minister for six months, without being a member of either House of Parliament.

 

Participation by Attorney General

• • Attorney-General of India has right to speak in and take part in the proceedings of, either House, any joint sitting of the Houses, and any committee of Parliament of which he may be named a member.
  • However, he is not entitled to vote in any of them.

 

Lame-duck Session

• • The last session of the existing Lok Sabha, after a new Lok Sabha has been elected.
  • Those members of the existing Lok Sabha who do not gets re-elected are known as Lame-Ducks.

 

Maiden Speech

• • Maiden Speech is the first speech of a member elected for the first time in a new House.

 

So, this was all about the Sessions of the Parliament i.e. Adjournment, Prorogation and Dissolution etc.

In the Next Post (Click Here), we will learn about the Various Devices of the Parliamentary Proceedings such as Motions, Hours, and Resolutions etc.