PARLIAMENT SESSION

Subject : Polity

Context : The winter session of Parliament, which usually commences by the last week of November, is unlikely to be held due to the high number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi.

Concept :

• Going by parliamentary records, there had been only three instances — in 1975, 1979 and 1984 — when the winter session was called off.
• The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs meets to decide the dates of the session and an announcement has to be made giving the members at least two weeks’ notice.
• So far, the committee has not met, and the government has a plan to combine the Budget session, which begins usually on February 1, and the winter session.
• The Constitution mandates there should not be a gap of six months or more between two sessions. With the monsoon session held in September, the government has no constitutional compulsion to hold a winter session.
• The monsoon session that was called on September 14 was supposed to go on till October 1 with 18 sittings. It was cut short by eight days and concluded on September 24. The previous Budget session too ended abruptly on March 23 for a similar reason.