LexRAMDAS ATHAWALE versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.
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[2010] 3 S.C.R. 1059 RAMOAS ATHAWALE v. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 86 of 2004) MARCH 29, 2010 [K.G. BALAKRISHNAN, CJI., S.H. KAPADIA, R.V. RAVEENDRAN, B. SUDERSHAN REDO~ P. SATHASIVAM, JJ.] Constitution of India, 1950: Articles 87, 118, 122 - President's special address at the commencement of session - Requirement of, when the House resumed after it was adjourned sine die - Held: A 8 c Resumption of House for the purpose of continuing its 0 business would not amount to commencement of new session - No special address by President required - Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Busines.3 in Lok Sabha - Rule 15. Articles 122, 32 - Speaker's decision directing resumption of House which was adjourned sine die - Writ E petition questioning the propriety of Speaker's decision - Maintainability of - Held: Courts are precluded from making inquiry into proceedings of Parliament on the ground of any irregularity of procedure - Question whether the resumed sitting was to be treated as the second part of the session was F essentially a matter relating purely to the procedure of Parliament and cannot be tested and gone into in a proceeding under Article 32 - Judicial review - Scope of. Article 122 - Speaker - Powers and duties - Held: G Speaker is the guardian of the privileges of the House and its spokesman and representative upon all occasions - He is the interpreter of its rules and procedure, and is invested with the power to control and regulate the course of debate 1059 H 1 060 SUPR~ME COURT REPORTS [2010] 3 S.C.R. A and to maintain order- Under' Article 122 (2), the decision of the Speaker in whom powers are vested to regulate the procedure and the Conduct of Business is final and binding on every Member of the House. · 8 Article 32 - Scope of - Held: Petition under Article 32 not entertainable unless it is shown that the petitioner had some fundamental right. c Article 85 - Prorogation and adjournment - Distinction between. The Fourteenth Session of the Thirteenth Lok Sabha commenced on 2nd December, 2003 and was adjourned sine die on 23rd December, 2003. Thereafter on 20th January, 2004, the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha, 0 by way of a Notice informed all the Members of the Thirteenth Lok Sabha, duly stating that under Rule 15 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha, the Speaker has directed that the Lok Sabha, which was adjourned sine die on 23rd December, 2003 E would resume its sittings on 29th January, 2004. In a w rit petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, a member of Lok Sabha challenged the constitutional validity of the proceedings in the Lok Sabha commencing from 29th January, 2004 on t he F ground that the Session commenced on 29th January, 2004 was the first Session of the Lok Sabha in the year 2004, and there was no address by the President informing the Parliament, the cause of its summons as provided for and required under Article 87 (1) of the G Constitution of India. H Dismissing the writ petition, the Court HELD: 1.1. The scheme of the Constitution, from the compendium of Articles 79, 83, 85 and 86 reveals that RAMDAS ATHAWALE v. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.1061 Union Parliament consists of the President and the A Council of States and the House of the People unless dissolved earlier, the House of the People continues for five years from the date of its first meeting, and the expiration of five years operates as a dissolution of the House except that during proclamation of Emergency, B the period of five years may be extended at a time not exceeding one year and not extending in any case beyond six months after such proclamation has ceased to operate. The President is unde·r constitutional mandate to summon each House of the Parliament from time to c time to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit. The President alone is vested with the power to summon the House from time to time and prorogue the House or either House; and to dissolve the House of the People. The President has a right to address either House or both the 0 Houses together _and for that purpose requ;re the attendance of ~embers . He may send messages to either House of Parliament, whether with respect to a Bill then pending in Parliament or otherwise, and the House to which message is sent is required to take the same into E consideration. [Para 10] (1071MA-E] 1.2. A
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