Sessions, sittings and the life of a House

Detail

Key terms

Term	Meaning	Who does it
Summoning	Calling a House to meet for a session	President (Art. 85(1))
Session	The run of sittings from a House's first sitting until prorogation (the formal end of a session). In short, the time from one prorogation to the next [4]	—
Sitting	One day's meeting of a House, about six hours (NCERT) [4]	—
Adjournment	A short pause in a sitting, inside the same session	Speaker / Chairman [4]
Adjournment sine die	The House adjourns without fixing a date to meet again	Speaker / Chairman [4]
Prorogation	The formal end of a session	President (Art. 85(2)(a))
Dissolution	The end of the House itself. It applies only to the Lok Sabha	President (Art. 85(2)(b))

Summoning of Parliament (Art. 85(1))

• Summoning of Parliament means the President calls each House to meet "at such time and place as he thinks fit" [2].
• Six-month rule: no more than six months may pass between the last sitting of one session and the first sitting of the next [2].
• So Parliament must meet at least twice a year.

• The rule counts the gap between sessions. It does not set a minimum number of sitting days.

• Origin: Dr B.R. Ambedkar took this rule from the Government of India Act, 1935. He cut the maximum gap from 12 months to six months [5].

• Who really decides: the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA), a group of senior ministers, picks the dates. The President then issues the summons to MPs [5].
• This means the government of the day controls when Parliament meets.
• India has no fixed parliamentary calendar [5].

Three sessions a year (convention, not law)

Session	Usual months
Budget session	February to April/May (NCERT). PRS gives January to May [5]
Monsoon session	July to August/September
Winter session	November to December

• Special sessions can also be called.
• The September 2023 special session began on 18 September 2023 in the old building with a debate on "75 years of Parliament" [7].
• On 19 September 2023, MPs gathered in the Central Hall. The Houses then moved to the new building, named Sansad Bhavan. The old building was renamed Samvidhan Sadan [7].
• In the same session Parliament passed the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023 (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam). It reserves one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and in State/UT assemblies. The Lok Sabha passed it 454 to 2, and the Rajya Sabha passed it unanimously [7].

Fewer sitting days over time

• In the 1950s the Lok Sabha met for about 130 days a year. By the 2000s this had fallen to about 70 days [6].
• In 2020 (the COVID-19 year), Parliament met for only 33 days. This was the lowest since 2008 (46 days) [5].
• The 17th Lok Sabha (2019–2024) held 274 sittings, the fewest of any full-term Lok Sabha. It worked 88% of its scheduled time, and the Rajya Sabha worked 73% [6].
• Several parliamentary committees have proposed at least 120 sitting days a year [5].
• A 2017 private member's bill by Naresh Gujral proposed four sessions a year, including a 15-day special session on urgent public issues [5].

President's address (Arts. 86 and 87)

• Art. 86: the President may address either House, or both Houses together, at any time. The President may also send messages to the Houses.
• Art. 87, the President's special address: the President must address both Houses together at:
• the start of the first session after each general election, and

• the start of the first session of each year.

• History: the original Art. 87 needed an address at the start of every session. The Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951 limited it to the two occasions above [4].

• The President reads out the government's programme, prepared by the Cabinet. The President does not write it. The debate on this address (the motion of thanks) is covered in Section 4.

How a sitting, a session or a House ends

1. Adjournment

• The presiding officer (Speaker or Chairman) pauses the sitting for hours, days or weeks [4].
• The session goes on, and all pending business stays alive.

2. Adjournment sine die

• The presiding officer ends the sitting without fixing a date to meet again [4].
• This closes the session's business. The prorogation order usually comes afterwards, often a few days later [4].

3. Prorogation (Art. 85(2)(a))

• The President, on the government's advice, formally ends the session [3].
• Bills do not lapse. Art. 107(3) says a pending bill does not lapse because a House is prorogued [3].
• Notices do lapse. All pending notices lapse, except notices to introduce bills. Members must give fresh notices in the next session [3].
• Link to ordinances: the President can make ordinances (temporary laws issued by the executive) only when Parliament is not in session (Art. 123). Prorogation creates that condition. See union-executive.

4. Dissolution of the Lok Sabha (Art. 85(2)(b))

• Dissolution ends the Lok Sabha itself, and a general election must follow.
• Two ways it happens:
• The five-year term runs out. The term counts from the date of the House's first meeting, and its end works as a dissolution (Art. 83(2)) [3].

• The President dissolves it early on the Prime Minister's advice. Examples: 1979, 1991, 1997 and 1999.

• The Rajya Sabha is never dissolved (Art. 83(1)). It is a permanent House. One-third of its members retire every two years [4].

• The Speaker stays in office after dissolution, until just before the new Lok Sabha first meets (proviso to Art. 94).

Lame-duck session

• Lame-duck session: the last session of an outgoing Lok Sabha, held after a new Lok Sabha has been elected.
• The term comes from the "lame duck", an office-holder whose successor has already been chosen. Members who lost the election may still sit and vote in it.

Lapse of bills on dissolution (Arts. 107–108)

• Lapse of bills means a bill dies and must be brought in again from the start in the new House.

Bill's position when the Lok Sabha is dissolved	Result
Pending in the Lok Sabha (whether it started there or came from the Rajya Sabha)	Lapses [3]
Passed by the Lok Sabha, pending in the Rajya Sabha	Lapses [3]
Introduced in the Rajya Sabha and still pending there (not yet passed by it)	Survives [3]
Passed by both Houses and awaiting the President's assent	Survives [3]
Returned by the President for reconsideration (Art. 111)	Survives
The Houses disagreed, and the President notified a joint sitting (Art. 108) before dissolution	Survives. The joint sitting can still be held [3]

• Simple test: if the bill is "sitting in" the Lok Sabha, or is waiting for the Lok Sabha's decision through the Rajya Sabha, it dies. If it is safely in the Rajya Sabha's own hands or with the President, it lives.

Quorum (Art. 100(3)–(4))

• Quorum is the minimum number of members who must be present for a House to do business.
• Art. 100(3): the quorum is one-tenth of the total membership of the House, counting the presiding officer.

• For a 543-member Lok Sabha, this is 55 members.

• Art. 100(4): if there is no quorum, the presiding officer must adjourn the House or suspend the sitting until there is one.

• Class 11 NCERT lists "absence of quorum" among Parliament's problems, along with boycotts and walkouts.

Prelims Hooks

• Art. 85(1): the gap between two sessions cannot be more than six months. The Government of India Act, 1935 allowed 12 months [5].
• Art. 85(2)(a) = prorogation. Art. 85(2)(b) = dissolution. Both are done by the President. Adjournment and adjournment sine die are done by the Speaker or Chairman.
• Art. 107(3): bills do not lapse on prorogation. Notices lapse, except notices to introduce bills [3].
• Trap: a bill passed by the Lok Sabha but pending in the Rajya Sabha lapses on dissolution. A bill that started in the Rajya Sabha and is still pending there (not yet passed) survives.
• Art. 108: a joint sitting already notified before dissolution can still be held [3].
• Art. 87 in its present form (first session after each general election and first session of each year) comes from the First Amendment, 1951 [4].
• Art. 100(3): quorum is one-tenth of total membership, including the presiding officer.
• The CCPA, not the President acting alone, decides session dates. There is no fixed calendar [5].
• 17th Lok Sabha: 274 sittings, the lowest for any full-term Lok Sabha [6].
• 106th Amendment (2023), giving one-third reservation for women, was passed in the September 2023 special session, the first session held in the new Sansad Bhavan [7].

Mains Points

• Executive control of the calendar: the CCPA decides when Parliament meets [5]. A government facing hard questions can call shorter sessions, and it can also issue ordinances during long breaks (Art. 123). Fixing a calendar by law, or allowing a set share of MPs to demand a session, would strengthen Parliament's control over the executive.
• Fewer sitting days: the Lok Sabha met about 130 days a year in the 1950s, about 70 in the 2000s, and only 33 in 2020 [5][6]. Fewer days mean less scrutiny of bills, budgets and policy. Reform ideas include a legal minimum of about 120 days a year and the four-session model in the 2017 private member's bill [5].
• Lapse of bills wastes work: bills that took years of committee work die when the Lok Sabha is dissolved. One option is to let bills be carried into the new House, as some parliaments allow. The counter-argument is that a newly elected House should set its own law-making priorities.
• Quorum and disruption: low attendance, walkouts and boycotts (noted in NCERT) weaken debate. Other problems are lame-duck sessions in which defeated members still vote, and productivity gaps such as the Rajya Sabha working 73% of its time in the 17th Lok Sabha [6]. Clear rules on attendance and on the business allowed in a lame-duck session would help.