State Assemblies met on average 20 days in 2024; Odisha, Kerala, WB, K’taka lead in sittings: Report
New Delhi: State Assemblies across India convened for an average of just 20 days and spent 100 hours in sessions in 2024, according to a report by PRS Legislative Research.
The report, as cited by Deccan Herald on Friday, highlighted that some states had significantly more sittings than others. Odisha led the list with 42 sittings, followed by Kerala with 37 and West Bengal with 36 sittings. Karnataka, which has a target of 60 compulsory sittings per year, managed 29 sittings in 2024.
In contrast, Uttar Pradesh, despite having a mandate of 90 sittings a year, and Madhya Pradesh only held 16 sittings each. Manipur saw 14 sittings, while Jammu and Kashmir had the least at five sittings.
The Constitution requires legislatures to meet at least once every six months, eleven states met this obligation through short sessions lasting only one or two days. The report noted that state assemblies have met for fewer than 30 days annually since 2017, with 2020 seeing a drastic dip to just 16 sittings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The number has since remained close to 20 days each year.
The years 2021 and 2022 saw 21 sittings each while 2023 saw 22 sittings and last year witnessed a slump to 20, added the report.
In 2024, assemblies averaged 100 hours of sitting time, with Kerala topping the list at 228 hours, followed by Odisha with 193 hours. Other states with notable sitting hours included Maharashtra and Rajasthan (187 hours each), Goa (172 hours), Chhattisgarh (155 hours), and Telangana (149 hours). Karnataka’s Assembly had 145 hours of sittings.
Regarding legislative activity, 2024 saw a total of over 500 bills passed across the country. Karnataka led in bill passage with 49 bills, followed by Tamil Nadu (45), Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra (32 each). However, some states had minimal legislative activity, with Delhi passing just one bill and Rajasthan passing only two.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
