New Delhi: Chief Justice of India Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana on Sunday termed the proceedings in Parliament a 'sorry state of affairs', adding that the debates lacked quality. Attributing the healthy and qualitative debates and discussions post in the initial years of independent India to the presence of a large number of lawyers in Parliament, he urged the lawyer community to rededicate itself to public life in order to bring changes in parliamentary debates.
"There's no clarity in laws. We don't know for what purpose the laws are made. It's creating lot of litigation, inconvenience and a loss to the government exchequer as well as inconvenience to public. This is what happens if intellectuals and professionals like lawyers aren't there in Houses. If you see the debates which used to take place in Houses those days, they used to be very wise, constructive and they used to debate any legislation they were making...Now, sorry state of affairs. We see the legislations - lot of gaps, lot of ambiguity in making laws," CJI Ramana said speaking at an event held in the Supreme Court premises on the occasion of 74th Independence Day.
Read: EXPLAINED: How did Parliament function in Monsoon Session 2021
The Monsoon Session had ended on a stormy note without any meaningful discussions on some key bills. On August 11, Parliament adjourned sine die having met for a total of 17 days. Both Houses witnessed tempestuous scenes over the government’s unwillingness to allow discussion on the Pegasus snooping scandal, farm bills and the rise in prices among other issues.
According to PRS Legislative Research data, the Monsoon Session was the fourth least productive Lok Sabha session in the last two decades. The Lok Sabha was scheduled to work for six hours per day for 19 days. However, the proceedings were marred on multiple occasions as members demanded discussions on surveillance using Pegasus and repealing the farm laws. The House met for only 21 hours, which is 21% of the scheduled time. This is the lowest since the 2016 Winter Session when the House worked for 15% of its scheduled time. Similarly, the Rajya Sabha was scheduled to meet for 112 hours over 19 days. However, it met for 29 hours, which is 29% of the scheduled time. As an exception, only the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Amendment) Bill, 2021, was discussed for more than an hour in both Houses.
Read: 'Parliament being made irrelevant, presiding officers complicit'
For the record, the Lok Sabha did not debate any non-legislative issue. Going by PRS Legislative Research data, nine minutes were spent discussing and passing the supplementary budget of Rs 23,675 crore. This amount includes Rs 15,750 crore for the COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package. The Rajya Sabha had only one major debate (non-legislative) on the management of COVID-19 pandemic. The Question Hour functioned for 35% of the scheduled time in Lok Sabha and 25% in Rajya Sabha. Only 20% of questions received an oral answer from ministers in both Houses.
