Assemblies met for average 20 days in 2024: Report

New Delhi: State Assemblies across the country met for an average of 20 days and 100 hours in 2024, passing 17 bills during the period with 51% getting clearance within a day of introduction, according to a study by PRS Legislative Research.

Odisha with 42 days, Kerala with 37 and West Bengal with 36 days topped the list of sittings, followed by Karnataka, which has officially set a target of 60 mandatory sittings a year, with 29 sittings in 2024, it said.

While bigger states like Uttar Pradesh, which has mandated 90 sittings a year, and Madhya Pradesh had 16 sittings each, Manipur saw 14 sittings, while Jammu and Kashmir had the least at five sittings, Nagaland 6 and Sikkim eight sittings.

The Constitution mandates legislatures to meet at least once in six months while 11 states met this requirement through short sessions that lasted for a day or two.

According to the report, assemblies continue to meet for less than 30 days a year on average since 2017 when the sittings were at 28. It came down to 16 in 2020 due to Covid-19 and since then it has remained close to 20 days.

In 2018, there were an average 26 sittings followed by 24 in 2019. The years 2021 and 2022 saw 21 sittings each while 2023 saw 22 sittings and last year witnessed a slump to 20.

“Some states have set a target for a minimum number of annual sitting days either through legislation or through Rules of Procedure, but none of them met these targets in any year between 2017 and 2024,” it said.

On average, Assemblies sat for 100 hours in 2024. Kerala sat for the highest 228 hours followed by Odisha (193 hours), Maharashtra and Rajasthan (187 hours each), Goa (172 hours), Chhattisgarh (155 hours) and Telangana (149 hours). Karnataka Assembly sat for 145 hours.

When it comes to Bills, the Assemblies passed 17 bills on average. Of the over 500 Bills passed in 2024, Karnataka topped the list with 49, followed by Tamil Nadu with 45, Himachal Pradesh (32) and Maharashtra (32). Delhi passed only one Bill and Rajasthan passed two Bills.