The Monsoon Session of Parliament on Tuesday came to an end with both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha adjourning sine die. In their concluding remarks, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Rajya Sabha Chairman Mohammad Hamid Ansari expressed concern over disruptions in the House.
A Winter Session of Parliament is expected to begin on November 8, a day before US President Barack Obama is likely to address a joint session. The Winter Session will last for five weeks and is likely to conclude on December 10.
The calendar of sittings came up for discussion at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, presided by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.
The meeting decided to recommend to the President to prorogue the monsoon session, which was adjourned sine die in the evening. The Lok Sabha lost 45 hours of time due to interruptions and forced adjournments while the Rajya Sabha could not conduct any business on five days. In addition, there were several disruptions and adjournments as a result of which eight Question Hours were lost.
In her valedictory address Ms Kumar said: “We lost 45 hours of time due to interruptions and forced adjournments. Parliament is meant for debates and discussions. Any matter permissible under the Constitution and Rules of Procedure can be discussed here. But the trend of disrupting the proceedings days on end is alarming and if not checked, will ultimately lead to unforeseen consequences.” She further said political parties and individuals should seriously ponder over the irreparable damage being done to parliamentary democracy by such disruptions.
The Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari in his remarks said notwithstanding the impressive work transacted in the course of the session, the House could not conduct any business on five days. In addition, there were several disruptions and adjournments.
“This is a matter on which I wish to draw attention of the Members. When the rules for the conduct of business were drawn up decades back, it was not visualised that perceived concerns or grievances would be articulated through disruption of proceedings. This is now taking place with disturbing regularity.”