The outgoing Maharashtra Assembly had far fewer sittings than its predecessor, which can be partly attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, although its performance is still significantly better than the national average, according to an analysis by PRS Legislative Research, which tracks the functioning of Parliament and the State legislatures.
The 14th Maharashtra Assembly met to conduct business on 136 days between November 2019 and July 2024. The previous Assembly, whose term ran from 2014 to 2019 met for at least 222 days; this covers 2015 to 2018 and does not include the House’s second session in 2016 due to lack of data.
The outgoing House’s record of an average of 27 sittings a year outstrips the national average, which ranges between 16 days and 23 days of sittings in various State legislatures. It was only in 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted normal business for much of the year, that the Maharashtra Assembly’s 15 sittings was lower than the national average of 21 sittings.
Maharashtra’s record has been consistently good. The 13th Assembly met for an average of 44 days each year, and had an average of 42 sittings per year between 2000 and 2010.
Bills adopted
The average duration of the daily sittings was seven hours for the present House, marginally higher than that of the previous Assembly, which sat for about six hours and 44 minutes per day on average. The longest sitting occurred on March 14, when the House met for 15 hours to discuss one Bill and the State budget.
Of the Bills passed by the State legislature this term, 70% were adopted within five days of their introduction, and 35% were passed on the same day or the next day. Half of the Bills pertained to local governance and education. Even though 20 private members’ Bills were introduced, none of them were taken up for discussion.
The PRS analysis showed that 33 Bills related to the establishment of private universities and amendment of provisions concerning public universities were passed, and 24 Bills dealing with urban local bodies were also adopted. One legislation that attracted nationwide attention provides a 10% reservation in jobs and education to the Maratha community. It was passed by the Assembly in February this year, after two similar attempts over the last decade had failed to get past judicial scrutiny.
As for questions in the legislature, 65% pertained to eight departments, including urban development, home, revenue, and forests. Legislators had an average attendance record of 83%, with all five years seeing average attendance above 75%.
Published - November 05, 2024 10:45 pm IST
