CHENNAI: Half of the bills passed in the Tamil Nadu State Assembly in 2021 were passed on the very day they were introduced without adequate scrutiny, an analysis by PRS Legislative Research unit has showed. According to the second edition of its annual review of State laws, the TN Assembly only met for 34 days, with 80% of those days falling during the Budget session. The National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution in 2002 recommended larger states meet for at least 90 days.
In 2021, state assemblies met for an average of 21 days and during this time and passed more than 500 bills. The TN Assembly passed 38 bills, of them, half were passed on the day of introduction, 24% within two to five days and 26% bills were passed more than five days after being introduced. An overall average of States' performance showed that various assemblies passed 44% of bills on the day of introduction. In eight states, including Gujarat, West Bengal, Punjab, and Bihar, all bills were passed on the day they were introduced.
One of the lacunae in the law-making process of the State legislatures, including in Tamil Nadu, compared to Parliament is the lack of committees to study the laws closely with help of experts.
"The quality of deliberation suffers when bills are introduced and passed the same day in the assemblies... MLAs don't get enough time to examine them in detail. As a result, the laws may contain gaps or issues that are overlooked which could be challenged in the courts or lead to implementation issues. By referring bills to committees after their introduction, our lawmaking process benefits from thorough examination by the MLAs with the help of experts, stakeholders and the general public," said Mridhula Raghavan, one of the authors of the report.
While the overall average of the Budget session's contribution to the number of sittings of the assembly is 66%, it is 80% in Tamil Nadu. Between 2016 and 2022, the State assembly has on average had 33 sittings per year. While a few states like Karnataka have legislations to ensure a minimum number of sitting days, TN has no such law. "Increasing the number of sitting days would also strengthen the lawmaking process," added Mridhula.
Of the bills passed in the state assemblies, 21% were related to education forming the highest percentage.
Tamil Nadu Assembly 2021
Number of bills passed: 38
Number of sittings: 34
Ordinances promulgated: 8