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A Joint Sitting of the Parliament is resorted to, for resolving the deadlock between two Houses of the Parliament for passing which of the following Bills? 1. Money Bill 2. Constitutional Amendment Bill 3. Ordinary Bill Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Explanation
Under Article 108 of the Indian Constitution, a Joint Sitting is an extraordinary machinery used to resolve deadlocks between the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha over the passage of an Ordinary Bill [4]. A deadlock occurs if a bill is rejected by the other House, if Houses disagree on amendments, or if more than six months elapse without passage [4]. However, this provision does not apply to Money Bills or Constitutional Amendment Bills [1]. For Money Bills, the Rajya Sabha has limited powers and must return the bill within 14 days; thus, no deadlock can arise [1]. For Constitutional Amendment Bills, Article 368 requires each House to pass the bill separately by a special majority, and there is no provision for a joint sitting to override a disagreement [1]. Therefore, a joint sitting can only be resorted to for Ordinary Bills and Financial Bills (not being Money Bills).
Sources
- [3] Introduction to the Constitution of India, D. D. Basu (26th ed.). > Chapter 12: The Union Legislature > p. 253
- [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_session_of_the_Parliament_of_India
- [1] Indian Polity, M. Laxmikanth(7th ed.) > Chapter 23: Parliament > JOINT SITTING OF TWO HOUSES > p. 249