New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has good reasons to be concerned about frequent disruptions in the House - the total number of working days in Parliament has been gradually coming down over the years. Even though Parliamentarians have reached a consensus to try and hold at least 100 sittings every year, the last time that mark was achieved was more than two decades ago in 1985.

Chatterjee had many times appealed to MPs not to disrupt the House as the bickering of lawmakers often led to adjournments. According to data available with the Lok Sabha secretariat, the number of Lok Sabha sittings was 109 in 1985. It came down to 83 in 1989 and by the year of 1994 the number of sittings was reduced further to 77.

Subsequently in 1997,there were only 65 sittings, which was further reduced to 51 in 1999. There were only 53 sessions in 2004 as the House was adjourned sine die on February 5,2004 and the 13th Lok Sabha was dissolved next day on February 6. There were 85 sittings in 2005 and 77 sittings in 2006, and this year, till the completion of 11th session there were 49 sittings held so far.
"We may be the largest democracy in the world but the total number of working days of Parliament session has been gradually coming down over the years," BJP MP Vijay Kumar Malhotra told reporters.

"It is deplorable as earlier it used to be six months of sittings in a year. Then a consensus was arrived for a minimum of hundred days in a year. However, now it has been reduced further to about 70 or even less," Malhotra said.

Source : PTI