The session of the parliament is summoned by :

Concept

In a parliamentary system built on the Westminster model, the power to call the legislature into being for a session — to summon it — belongs to the constitutional head of state, who exercises it on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.

The presiding officers of a House form a separate category: their authority regulates business once a House has assembled, and does not extend to convening it.

Application

1. Article 85(1) of the Constitution provides that the President shall from time to time summon each House of Parliament to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit.

2. The same clause adds the proviso that six months shall not intervene between the last sitting of one session and the first sitting of the next, so Parliament must be convened at least twice in a year; by convention it is summoned three times — the Budget, Monsoon and Winter sessions.

3. Article 85(2) places the connected powers in the very same office: prorogation of either House and dissolution of the Lok Sabha.

4. Under Article 74 the summons is issued on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers — the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs settles the dates, and the summons then goes out to every member in the name of the President.

Cross-check

• The Prime Minister and the Cabinet decide when a session should be held, but the constitutional instrument that convenes a House is issued in the President’s name, not the Prime Minister’s.

• The Speaker’s authority under Article 93 attaches to the sittings of the Lok Sabha, and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha holds the corresponding position under Article 89; neither office is given any power to summon a House.

• No provision makes the two presiding officers acting together a summoning authority — Article 108 gives the Speaker only the chair at a joint sitting of both Houses.

Hence the session of Parliament is summoned by the President.