Role of President or Governor in Summoning of Assembly Sessions
Every session called at a short notice IS not emergent session
- Part 2 -

Y Devendro Singh *

The Governor of the State of Arunachal Pradesh, without consulting the Chief Minister –Nabam Tuki, and his Council of Ministers, or even the Speaker – Nabam Rebia, issued an order dated 9.12.2015, whereby, he preponed the 6th session of the Assembly scheduled to be held on 14.1.2016, to 16.12.2015.

In this regard the rulings vide Judgment Order dated 03-07- 2016 of the Supreme Court of India in the case of Nabam Rebia and Bamang Felix Vs Deputy Speaker and others in Civil Appeal Nos. 6203-6204 of 2016 (Arising out of SLP(C) Nos. 1259-1260 of 2016), which nullified all the orders issued by the Governor, are as follows for general recall:

'(i) The order of the Governor dated 9.12.2015 preponing the 6th session of the Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly, from 14.1.2016, to 16.12.2015 is violative of Article 163 read with Article 174 of the Constitution of India, and as such, is liable to be quashed. The same is accordingly hereby quashed.

(ii) The message of the Governor dated 9.12.2015, directing the manner of conducting proceedings during the 6th session of the Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly, from 16.12.2015 to 18.12.2015, is violative of Article 163 read with Article 175 of the Constitution of India, and as such, is liable to be quashed. The same is accordingly hereby quashed.

(iii) All steps and decisions taken by the Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly, pursuant to the Governor's order and message dated 9.12.2015, are unsustainable in view of the decisions at (i) and (ii) above. The same are accordingly set aside.

(iv) In view of the decisions at (i) to (iii) above, the status quo ante as it prevailed on 15.12.2015, is ordered to be restored.

Hence, the President of India could not disapprove the proposal for summoning sessions of Parliament on the aid and advise of the Prime Minister or Union Cabinet Council under the powers conferred by Article 74(1) read with Article 85(1) and, similarly the Governor does not have the power to disapprove the proposal for summoning sessions of Legislative Bodies in India on the aid and advise of the Chief Minister or State Cabinet Council under the powers conferred under Article 163(1) read with Article 174(1) of the Indian Constitution.

It can be treated an inappropriate action on the part of the President and Governor, if they failed to issue the necessary order for convening the Session as proposed on the aid and advise of the Prime Minister or Union Cabinet Council and Chief Minister or State Cabinet Council in respect of Parliament and State Legislative Bodies respectively.

As for recalling general public or persons concerned, the procedures for summoning of sessions of Lok Sabha and Manipur Legislative Assembly as prescribed in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha and Manipur Legislative Assembly are reproduced herein below:

LOK SABHA (LOWER HOUSE):

" 3. The Secretary-General shall issue a summon to each member specifying the date and place for a session of the House:
Provided that when a session is called at short notice or emergently, summons may not be issued to each member separately but an announcement of the date and place of the session shall be published in the Gazette and made in the press, and members may be informed by telegram."

(2) The Secretary shall issue summons to each member specifying the date and place for a session of the House at least [15 clear days] before the date so appointed:
Provided that when a session is called at short notice or emergently, summons may not be issued to each member separately but an announcement of the date and place of the session shall be published in the Gazette and made in the press, and members may be informed by telegram."

The Indian Parliament or State Legislature holds special session to address urgent matters or crises that requires immediate attention in addition to the regular sessions of the Parliament or State Legislature on the procedure of at Short Notice or Emergently as per relevant Rules.

These may be held within or outside the regular session of Parliament or State Legislature and are dedicated to discuss specific issues of National importance, and such kind of session, if the House is prorogued, should also be summoned by the President of India and Governors of the States concerned respectively or if the House is not prorogued the Speaker can continue the earlier session.

The procedure for summoning of Lok Sabha/State Legislative Bodies for an Emergency Session is generally the same as for a regular session. The President's/Governor's order takes the same form as for commencement of any other session; so also do other formalities. The Press communique issue by the Secretariat also mentions the special purpose for which the session is being convened. Considering the duration and purpose for which an emergency session is summoned, the Speaker decides if the Question Hour should be dispensed with.

Further, if the session is summoned at a short notice and there is no time to issue the regular summons, members may be informed through Press and Electronic Media. When an emergency session is summoned at a short notice, the air and railway transport authorities are instructed to give top priority to members proceeding to attend the session.

If the interval between the issue of summons and commencement of the session is such that the prescribed period of notice of questions, private member's resolutions and Bills cannot be completed, the Speaker has the power to relax the period of notice. In the case of questions such power is, however, exercised in consultation with the Government.

Every session called at a short notice is not emergent sessions. For instances, since the First Sessions of the Fifth and the Seventh Lok Sabha were called at a short notice and the gap between the date of issue of summons and the date of commencement of sessions was only 4 and 5 days, respectively, in addition to issuing summons in the ordinary course, all outstation members were also informed about the summoning of Lok Sabha telegraphically.

Wireless message was also issued to all Chief Secretaries/Administrators of all States/Union territories requesting them to convey to members about the commencement of the Fifth Session of Ninth Lok Sabha and the First Session of the Tenth Lok Sabha. Press Release to all District Collectors/District Magistrates through NICNET with the request to inform member of Lok Sabha about commencement of the First Session of the Eleventh Lok Sabha was also issued. However, these sessions were not emergent sessions.

The Legislative Bodies in the various States may consider holding Special Sessions, as the Parliament has done, to deliberate on their democratic experience and on basic State and National issues in a non-partisan manner in commemoration of the golden jubilee of the country's Independence. They may further consider adopting Resolutions by consensus on the model of the Special Session of the Parliament.

On 28 February to 1 March, 1977, a two-day Special Session was held in Rajya Sabha for extension of the President's Rule in Tamil Nadu and Nagaland under the second proviso to Article 356(4). Another two-day Special Session was held on 3 June 1991 and 4 June 1991, for approval of the President's Rule in Haryana, under the proviso to Article 356(3).

The Lok Sabha in the Special Session of the Parliament held from August 26–September 1, 1997 on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of Independence a significant resolution was adopted.

In Manipur, a Special Session was also held on 12 June 2002 recently. The Session was held as Second Session of the Eighth Manipur Legislative Assembly outside the regular Session on a topic "Discussion on the Territorial Integrity of Manipur."

A special session of Tripura Legislative Assembly also held on Monday to mark its 50th anniversary. It was this date in 1963 the territorial council was constituted which culminated into Assembly after Tripura attained Statehood in 1972.

In 2022, the Governor of Mizoram, Shri Hari Babu Kambhampati, summoned the Eighth Legislative Assembly of the State of Mizoram to meet for a Special Session on 4th November, 2022 (Friday) onwards at 9.30 am onwards on account of the visit of the Hon'ble President of India in the Legislative Assembly House at Aizawl.

The Notification summoning the Special Session was issued by the Mizoram Legislative Assembly Secretariat on 20th October, 2022 (Thursday). This is also one of the particular instances where special session was held on the aid and advise of State Cabinet Council under Article 163(1) read with Article 174(1) of the Constitution of India.

In addition to all this matter, as conclusion, I would like to recall that in a Parliamentary System of Democracy, regarding the importance and role of Parliament in the society, our late former Prime Minister of Independent India, Shri Jawaharlal Nehru remarked 'our Parliament shows the Nation' and the eminent UK Law commentator, famous Jurist and a Tory member (politician) of UK, Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780) stated on his law commentaries as . . . 'that England could never be ruined but by a Parliament'.

Concluded ....