Context:
President Murmu addressed the joint sitting of Parliament
Joint Sitting of Parliament:
- Provided under – Article 108 of the Indian Constitution
- Called by – President
- Presided over by – Speaker or, in his absence, by the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha or in his absence, the Deputy-Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
- Chairman of Rajya Sabha doesn’t preside over the joint session at any means/cost.
- Summons to members – Secretary-General shall issue summons to each member specifying the time and place for a joint sitting.
- Duration and adjournment of the joint sitting – Shall be determined by the Speaker.
- Quorum – 1/10th of the total number of members of the Houses.
- Procedure – Procedures of joint sessions are subject to modifications and variations as the Speaker may consider necessary or appropriate
- Occurrence –
- 1st session after each general election to the House of the People and the session at the commencement of the 1st session of each year are joint sittings (Article 87)
- Apart from this, the joint sitting of both the houses is also held to resolve the deadlock over the passing of key legislation.
- However, not all bills can be referred to a joint sitting of Parliament. There are 2 exceptions –
- Money bill under Article 110.
- Constitution amendment bill under Article 368.
Source: Press Trust of India
Previous Year Question
Rajya Sabha has equal powers with Lok Sabha in
[UPSC Civil Service Exam – 2020 Prelims]
(a) the matter of creating new All India Services
(b) amending the Constitution
(c) the removal of the government
(d) making cut motion
Answer: (b)
