Premature adjournment. Winter session of Parliament adjourned sine die ahead of schedule

The winter session of the Parliament adjourned sine die on Friday, a week ahead of its scheduled closing. During 13 sessions, both the houses passed 9 bills.

The session commenced on December 7, and it was scheduled to end on December 29. “Premature adjournment of the house is with consensus of all political parties,” Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said while adding that 13 sittings were held and the lower house sat for 68 hours and 42 minutes during the tenth session.

In his address, he informed the house that during the 10th session of the 17th Lok Sabha, 13 sittings were held and the Lok Sabha sat for 68 hours and 42 minutes. “The productivity of the House during the session was 97 per cent, and many important legislative businesses were transacted,” he said.

Bills passed

During the session, nine bills were introduced and seven were passed. Some of the important bills that were passed during the session include the Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill, 2019, the Appropriation (No. 4) Bill, 2022, the Appropriation (No. 5) Bill, 2022, the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth) Amendment Bill, 2022, and the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2022. Supplementary Demands for Grants were discussed for 10 hours and 53 minutes and then passed.

Later, while interacting with the media in the Parliament House Complex, Birla said that differences of views among political parties on several issues are natural in a functional democracy, but they need to be reflected in the form of healthy debates. Agreements and disagreements on issues may be reflected in debates and not through disruption, as noted by Birla.

Noting that smooth conduct of the House is the responsibility of all stakeholders, the Speaker said that the House must be run in accordance with the collective will and consensus. He appealed to the Members not to resort to disruptive tactics in the House and to participate in the House proceedings to highlight people’s issues and to strengthen democracy.

Meanwhile, in a press conference, Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines, Pralhad Joshi, said the session was curtailed due to the completion of essential government business and on the recommendations of the Business Advisory Committees (BACs) of both Houses of Parliament.“ BACs of the Houses took cognizance of the demand and sentiments of Members of Parliament across party lines for Christmas and year-end celebrations,” he said.

In the Rajya Sabha, beside the passage of bills and other business, one short-duration discussion under Rule 176 was held on “Serious Effects of Global Warming and the Need for Remedial Steps to Tackle It,” which engaged 17 members for about 3 hours. Joshi added that the productivity of the Lok Sabha was approximately 97 per cent and that of the Rajya Sabha was approximately 103 per cent.

Key bills

He also highlighted features of two key bills. “The Multi-State Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022” aims to strengthen governance, enhance transparency, increase accountability, reform electoral process, etc. in the Multi-State Co-operative Societies by supplementing existing legislation and incorporating the provisions of the 97^th Constitutional Amendment, and to improve monitoring mechanisms and ensure ease of doing business for Multi-State Co-operative Societies.

Another key legislation was “The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2022,”which intends to amend certain enactments for decriminalising and rationalising minor offences to further enhance trust-based governance for ease of living and doing business. Both bills have now been referred to a joint committee.