More than two sessions of parliament a year-Legally permissible?

This article was published in Kuensel for Saturday Legal Column Series

When the news of proposal for three Sessions of Parliament a year broke out this week, even among the Hon’ble Members of the Parliament, they seemed to have some disagreements and reservations of whether it would be legally permissible to have three sessions per year. While some felt it would be a good move, some seem to have argued that, the notion of holding more than two sessions of Parliament a year would only occur in case of national emergency situations. Such different interpretations by Members of the Parliament may result in politicization of the parliament which may also lead to confusion among the general public and cause unnecessary political disagreements.

The basis of number of sessions of parliament is found in our Constitution. Article 11 (6) and Article 12 (5) of our Constitution states that, the National Council and the National Assembly “shall assemble at least twice a year”. These same articles are imported into Section 57 of the National Assembly (NA) Act, 2008 and Section 64 of the National Council (NC) Act, 2008. The key words here are “At least twice a year”. The basic dictionary meaning of “at least” means “not less than or at minimum”. This means, both the Constitution and the respective Acts of the houses (NA and NC Acts) are clear that, while parliament must convene at least two sessions a year, there can be more than two sessions a year.  The confusion or disagreement to hold more than two sessions of the Parliament a year seem to have stemmed from Sections 58 and 59 of the NA Act and Sections 65 and 66 of the NC Act where “The NC or NA whenever necessary, the Chairperson or Speaker ” shall convene an extraordinary sitting of the NC or NA” on the command of the Druk Gyalpo”. But this does not prohibit the parliament from convening more than two sessions a year.

For example, both India and Australia have bicameral parliament like Bhutan, which is more of Westminster System of Parliament.  Article  85 (1)  of the Indian Constitution reads “The President shall from time to time summon each House of Parliament to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit, but six months shall not intervene between its last sitting in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session.” While Article 6 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, States “There shall be a session of the Parliament once at least in every year, so that twelve months shall not intervene between the last sitting of the Parliament in one session and its first sitting in the next session”. This means, it is mandatory for these Parliaments to convene a minimum of two sessions a year, but they may have more than two sessions a year. In India, generally there are three sessions of Parliament a year, one session dedicated to budget, second Monsoon Session and third one Winter Session.  Finally, the precedence of more than two sessions of the Parliament a year in Bhutan has already been set by the former Government when they held the 11th Session of the Parliament.  Thus, the proposal of holding more than two regular sessions of the parliament is nothing to be confused.

Sonam Tshering

Lawyer, Thimphu

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not reflect those of Kuensel.