Article 174 - Sessions of the State Legislature, prorogation and dissolution
(a) Prorogue the House or either House; (b) Dissolve the Legislative Assembly
- The Governor shall from time to time summon the House or each House of the State Legislature to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit, but six months shall not intervene between its last sitting in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session
- The Governor may from time to time
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- Summoning- It means that the members of the legislature have to be present for conducting the business of the legislature. The Governor of India summons the two Houses of the legislature which has to meet at least twice a year.
- Adjournment- The presiding officer of the House suspends the sitting of the house for a specified time that may be hours, days or weeks. If the meeting is postponed for an indefinite time without stating a fixed time for the next meeting, it is called Adjournment sine die.
- Prorogation- It means the session of the House has been terminated by an order made by the Governor after the presiding officer declares the House adjourns sine die. The Governor can also prorogue the House in session.
- Prorogation terminates both the sitting and session of the House whereas adjournment just postpones a sitting.
- The time between the Prorogation and Reassembly of the Houses is called Recess.
- Article 189 (3) - Quorum
- Until the Legislature of the State by law otherwise provides, the quorum to constitute a meeting of a House of the Legislature of a State shall be ten members or one-tenth of the total number of members of the House, whichever is greater.
- The Presiding officer adjourns or suspends the meeting until there is a quorum.
- Dissolution of Legislative assembly – Legislative Council is a permanent house, therefore the term dissolution is used in the context of Legislative assembly.
- Legislative assembly gets dissolved at the completion of the term of 5 years from the date appointed for its first meeting. The outgoing state Cabinet recommends the Governor to dissolve the Legislative assembly to pave the way for the newly constituted Legislative assembly after the general election
- Another manner in which the Legislative assembly gets dissolved is when the ruling party loses the majority. In that case, the Council of Ministers must resign and the prerogative to dissolve Legislative assembly is transferred to the Governor. He may ask other parties to prove its majority, failing which fresh elections need to be held.
- With the dissolution of Legislative assembly, any bill pending in the legislative assembly lapses. This includes
- A bill pending in the assembly which originated or was transferred
- A bill passed by the LA but pending in the Council
- The bill does not lapse when
- It originated and is pending in the Council
- It is awaiting assent of the Governor or the President after being passed both the Houses
- It has been returned for reconsideration by the Governor or the President after being passed by both the Houses.
