New Delhi. 88 days have passed since the monsoon session of Parliament ended, but till now the formal session of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha has not been done. With this, the longest gap till date has been recorded in the prorogation of Parliament. Earlier in the year 2008, there was no prorogation for 87 days. The proceedings of both the houses were adjourned sine die on 13 August. Since the session of both the houses has not been adjourned till Monday morning, there is a possibility of re-calling the Parliament meeting under the current session only.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh has raised questions on the government's intentions in this matter. He said on social media platform Referring to the eighth edition of the book 'Kaul and Shakdhar' published on the functioning of Parliament, Ramesh said that in it it has been mentioned that there is usually a gap of two to four days between the sine die adjournment of the Lok Sabha and its prorogation. In the footnote of the book, this maximum difference is stated to be 28 days, which is related to the monsoon season of 2015.
Ramesh said that Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, in a letter written to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on October 19, had mentioned that the 2008 monsoon session was not prorogued for 87 days. He said that this was done with the consent of all parties at that time. Ramesh alleged that the present government has created this record with the aim of giving time to the Union Home Minister to gather two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha to pass the delimitation bills. Congress President Kharge has written letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi four times in the last six months requesting him to call an all-party meeting to discuss delimitation, but the government has not agreed to it.
At the same time, due to the session not being prorogued, it is also being speculated that the government may call a meeting of Parliament at short notice to consider the proposed constitutional amendment related to the implementation of the Women's Reservation Act. Under this proposal, there is talk of increasing the number of existing 543 Lok Sabha seats to a maximum of 850 through delimitation. However, no official announcement has been made by the government regarding calling the Parliament meeting.
There is no fixed time limit for proroguing the House after adjourning it sine die in the Constitution. Therefore, not proroguing the session for a long time is not in itself considered a constitutional or procedural irregularity. According to available records, Parliament was not prorogued for 87 days in 2008, 76 days in 1987, 54 days in 1989, 49 days each in 2006 and 2013 and 41 days in 1963.
It is noteworthy that in the year 2008, the Lok Sabha meeting was held on 21 and 22 July to discuss the no-confidence motion against the then United Progressive Alliance government. After this the House was not adjourned. Lok Sabha proceedings resumed on 17 October and were adjourned on 24 October. After this, the next meeting of the House was held on 10 December.