New Delhi: State assemblies did not meet enough in 2023, hardly discussed Bills or their respective budgets, and referred only 4% of state bills to subject committees, PRS Legislative Research’s annual report says.
The Annual Review of State Laws looks at the work of all state assemblies and the legislation discussed and passed by them in the calendar year of 2023.
The report notes that state assemblies “do not meet often enough” and that on average, these assemblies met for 23 days in 2023. As many as 12 states met for less than 100 hours in the whole year, it says.
“The average of 22 sitting days in 2023 was not an outlier. Over the last seven years, state assemblies met for 23 days on average per year,” it adds.
State assemblies were also found to hardly discuss the budget. “Seventeen states started the discussion on ministry-wise expenditure budget within a day of the general discussion on the budget,” the report notes. State budgets, notably, are cumulatively worth about Rs 53 lakh crore.
The story is similar for bills, the report says. Almost half – 44% – of all Bills were passed on the day of introduction or the very next day. In the states of Gujarat, Jharkhand, Mizoram and Punjab and the Union Territory of Puducherry, all Bills were passed within a day of introduction.
In 13 states, all Bills were passed within five days of introduction. However, the report finds that only Kerala and Meghalaya took more than five days to pass more than 90% of their Bills. Rajasthan, too, fared well and took more than five days to pass 55% of its Bills in 2023. In 2022, the percentage was 73%.
The report also says that among several Bills that were passed were ones that increased the salaries and pensions of legislators themselves.
The report also finds that there is no parity of how committees to examine Bills work. Only 4% of bills were referred to subject committees. Thus, of more than 500 Bills introduced in state assemblies in 2023, 23 were referred to committees. Six reports were presented within two days of the Bills being referred.
“Nine reports were presented within two months of the Bill being referred to committees. These Bills were passed within four days of the committee report being presented,” the PRS report notes.
In some states such as Maharashtra, Delhi, Odisha and Goa, the financial committees (which look at audit reports from the CAG) did not present a single report, it says.
As many as 84 ordinances – which are laws that the executive can bring under emergency situations – were promulgated by 20 states in 2023. The highest number was promulgated by Uttar Pradesh (20), followed by Andhra Pradesh (11), and Maharashtra (9).
The report also notes the tension between the governor and the state government in some states. This tension expressed itself in delays in giving assent to Bills, and governors (as the chancellor) not appointing vice chancellors selected by the government. Some states brought in amended university legislature to remove the governor from this position of power.
In some cases governors did not summon the assembly.
Also notably, the report says that several states did not prorogue a session of the assembly for long periods, thus keeping the power to have sittings with the assembly speaker who is usually from the party in power.
