Special session of Parliament: How it will work

Source: The post is based on the article “Special session of Parliament: How it will work”  published in Indian Express on 2nd September 2023

What is the News?

The Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs has announced that a “special session” of Parliament would be held from September 18 to 22,2023.

When does Parliament meet?

India’s Parliament has no fixed calendar of sittings.The Government determines the date and duration of parliamentary sessions.

The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs takes this decision. It currently has ten Ministers, including those for Defence, Home, Finance, Agriculture, Tribal Affairs, Parliamentary Affairs, and Information and Broadcasting.

The Law Minister and the Minister of State for External Affairs are special invitees to the Committee.

The President is informed about the Committee’s decision who then summons Members of Parliament to meet for the session.

What does the Constitution say on Parliamentary sessions?

The Constitution specifies that six months should not elapse between two parliamentary sessions.

This provision was borrowed from the Government of India Act of 1935.It allowed the British Governor General to call a session of the central legislature at his discretion, requiring that the gap between two sessions should not be more than 12 months.

The Constituent Assembly reduced the gap between sessions to six months.

What were Constituent Assembly views on Parliamentary sessions?

Some members of the Constituent Assembly wanted Parliament to meet throughout the year with breaks in between.Others wanted Parliament to sit for longer durations and cited the examples of the British and American legislatures meeting for more than 100 days a year.

However, Dr. Ambedkar disagreed with these suggestions.He expressed concerns that if the sessions are too frequent and lengthy, even the legislators themselves might become tired of them.So, he advocated holding regular parliamentary sessions. 

How often do Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha meet?

Before independence, the central assembly met for a little more than 60 days a year. This number increased to 120 days a year in the first 20 years after Independence.Since then, the sitting days of the national legislature have declined.

Between 2002 and 2021, Lok Sabha averaged 67 working days.The situation in state legislatures is much worse. In 2022, 28 state Assemblies met for 21 days on average.In 2023, Parliament has met for 42 days so far.

On multiple occasions, the Conference of presiding officers has recommended that Parliament should meet for more than 100 days.The National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution set up in 2000 made a similar recommendation.

What is a special session of Parliament?

The Constitution does not use the term “special session”.The term sometimes refers to sessions the government has convened for specific occasions like commemorating parliamentary or national milestones.

However, Article 352 (Proclamation of Emergency) of the Constitution does refer to a “special sitting of the House”.

Parliament added the part relating to the special sitting through the Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978.Its purpose was to add safeguards to the power of proclaiming Emergency in the country.

It specifies that if a Proclamation of Emergency is issued and Parliament is not in session, then one-tenth of Lok Sabha MPs can ask the President to convene a special meeting to disapprove the Emergency.