With fewer sittings, House sessions mean little business

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 12

The winter session of the Vidhan Sabha starts tomorrow, but with drastically reduced sittings over the years the Assembly has literally turned out to be a place just to remember the departed souls.

In the financial year 2017-18, the Vidhan Sabha had just 19 sittings. This is in sharp contrast to states like Kerala, which held 151 sittings spread over five sessions in the same year.

Such a low number sittings is also contrary to the rules under which the Punjab Vidhan Sabha functions. As per the Rule 14-A of the Rules of Procedure in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, the minimum number of sittings of the House during a financial year should not be less than 40.

In the recent times, it has been a consistent demand of the Opposition that since the state is facing so many issues, the number of sittings should be increased. Last year, AAP had demand that at least 20 sittings be held alone in the Budget session so that the elected representatives can air grievances of their respective constituencies with liberty.

Leader of Opposition Harpal Cheema said when the Congress was in Opposition, it consistently demanded that the sessions should be long and important issues should be given at least one day. “The Congress has now adopted the same model,” he said.

A glance at the period between 1952 and 1977 reveals that on an average 50 sittings were held per year. For instance, the number of sittings during 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1966 was 55, 37, 44, 54, 56, 67 and 32, respectively. However, it started declining in the 1980s.

Under the SAD-BJP’s two tenures during 2007-17, there were 88 and 91 sittings, respectively. It means on an average every year the House witnessed 18 sittings. Before that during the previous term of the Congress government (2002-07), there were just 81 sittings.

A perusal of old debates reveals that Partap Singh Kairon, the then Chief Minister, used to encourage the members to speak in the Assembly and he himself used to reply the debate for one to two hours. Thus, members could find little opportunity to create ruckus in the House.

Early this year there were only eight sittings in the Budget Session, one each had gone in Governor’s Address and Obituary References. In the past, the Budget used to be passed in 13-14 sittings.

AAP MLA Kanwar Sandhu said the constitutional role of the MLAs to enact laws and hold governments accountable had been negated by the short duration of the House sessions. “A four-day session of the Vidhan Sabha should be held every month, so that we can have 48 sittings annually spread over 12 sessions,” he demanded.

Speaker Rana KP Singh said the sittings were planned as per the business. “In each session, the number of sittings is decided as per the business received by Business Advisery Committee,” he said.