SESSIONS OF PARLIAMENT

SESSIONS OF PARLIAMENT

Summoning

The president from time to time sumons each House of Parliament to meet. But, the maximum gap between two sessions of Parliament cannot be more than six months. Parliament should meet at least twice a year.

• Budget Session (February to May)
• Monsoon Session (July to September)
• Winter Session (November to December)

A ‘session’ of Parliament is the period spanning between the first sitting of a House and its prorogation (or dissolution in the case of the Lok Sabha). During a session, the House meets everyday to transact business. The period spanning between the prorogation of a House and its reassembly in a new session is called ‘recess’.

Adjournment

A session of Parliament consists of many meetings. Each meeting of a day consists of two sittings, that is, a morning sitting from 11 am to 1 pm and post-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 (in the case of the Lok Sabha). An adjournment suspends the work in a sitting for a specified time, which may be hours, days or weeks.

Adjournment Sine Die

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. He can also call a sitting of the House before the date or time to which it has been adjourned or at any time after the House has been adjourned sine die.

Prorogation

The presiding officer (Speaker or Chairman) declares the House adjourned sine die, when the business of a session is completed. Within the next few days, the President issues a notification for prorogation of the session. However, the President can also prorogue the House while in session.

Differences between adjournment and prorogation

Adjournment	Prorogation
It only terminates a sitting and not a session of the House.	It not only terminates a sitting but also a session of the House.
It is done by presiding officer of the House.	It is done by the president of India.
It does not affect the bills or any other business pending before the House and the same can be resumed when the House meets again.	It also does not affect the bills or any other business pending before the House.13 However, all pending notices (other than those for introducing bills) lapse on prorogation and fresh notices have to be given for the next session. In Britain, prorogation brings to an end all bills or any other business pending before the House

Dissolution

Only the Lok Sabha is subject to dissolution. Dissolution means ends the very life of the existing House, and a new House is constituted after general elections are held. The dissolution of the Lok Sabha may take place in either of two ways:

1.  dissolution, that is, on the expiry of its tenure of five years or the terms as extended during a   national emergency
2.  Whenever the President decides to dissolve the House, which he is authorised to do. 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 (to be pursued further) must be reintroduced in the newly constituted Lok Sabha. However, some pending bills and all pending assurances that are to be examined by the Committee on Government Assurances do not lapse on the dissolution of the Lok Sabha. Conditions in which a bill lapse or not:

• A bill pending in the Lok Sabha lapses (whether originating in the Lok Sabha or transmitted to it by the Rajya Sabha).
• A bill passed by the Lok Sabha but pending in the Rajya Sabha lapses.
• 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.
• A bill pending in the Rajya Sabha but not passed by the Lok Sabha does not lapse.
• A bill passed by both Houses but pending assent of the president does not lapse.
• A bill passed by both Houses but returned by the president for reconsideration of Houses does not lapse.

Quorum

Quorum is the minimum number of members required to be present in the House before it can transact any business. It is one-tenth of the total number of members in each House including the presiding officer. It means that there must be at least 55 members present in the Lok Sabha and 25 members present in the Rajya Sabha, if any business is to be conducted. If there is no quorum during a meeting of the House, it is the duty of the presiding officer either to adjourn the House or to suspend the meeting until there is a quorum.

Voting in House

All matters at any sitting of either House or joint sitting of both the Houses are decided by a majority of votes of the members present and voting, excluding the presiding officer. Only a few matters, which are specifically mentioned in the Constitution like impeachment of the President, amendment of the Constitution, removal of the presiding officers of the Parliament and so on, require special majority, not ordinary 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

The Constitution has declared Hindi and English to be the languages for transacting business in the Parliament. However, the presiding officer can permit a member to address the House in his mother-tongue. In both the Houses, arrangements are made for simultaneous translation.

Rights of Ministers & Attorney General

In addition to the members of a House, every minister and the attorney general of India have the right to speak and take part in the proceedings of either House, any joint sitting of both the Houses and any committee of Parliament of which he is a member, without being entitled to vote. There are two reasons underlying this constitutional provision: 

1. A minister can participate in the proceedings of a House, of which he is not a member. In other words, a minister belonging to the Lok Sabha can participate in the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha and vice-versa.  
2. 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.

Lame-duck Session

It refers to the last session of the existing Lok Sabha, after a new Lok Sabha has been elected. Those members of the existing Lok Sabha who could not get re-elected to the new Lok Sabha are called lame-ducks.

Written by Romen pathak (Source- Laxmikant  IP 5th edition)