Half washed-out, monsoon session concludes

Both Houses of Parliament adjourned sine die on Thursday, concluding a tumultuous monsoon session that left the government ruing the lost opportunity to make laws.

The original agenda for the session weight heavily with 30-odd Bills, but frequent disruptions and forced adjournments ensured passage of only 14 Bills in the Lok Sabha and nine in the Upper House.

Parliamentary affairs minister P K Bansal, regretting that the Lower House lost 51 hours and the Rajya Sabha 57 hours to disruptions, said political differences should not come in the way of law-making process.

Speaker Meira Kumar and Chairman Hamid Ansari, while adjourning the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha sine die, too lamented the loss due to frequent interruptions.

The session had 26 sittings spread over 104 hours and three minutes, Kumar said, and frowned upon the repeated demands for suspension of Question Hour leading to its disruption. “I hope in future the House will not allow suspension or disruption of the Question Hour since it is irretrievable,” she said.

Ansari, expressing indignation over the frequent disruptions, said, “it being the monsoon session, (the House) has lived up to its appellation with stormy proceedings.... Many matters of public importance remained unattended.

“This is a sad commentary on the right and duty of the members who participate meaningfully in the proceedings of the House. It calls for introspection...”

The Upper House, however, created history by adopting a motion for removal of Calcutta High Court judge Soumitra Sen on charges of misappropriation of funds. Another hallmark of the six-week long session was the discussion on the issue of the Lokpal Bill after which the two Houses conveyed “Sense of the House” on the issue that facilitated end of the 12-day long fast of Anna Hazare.