While delivering the 15th D T Lakdawala Memorial Lecture, he also lamented the disruption created by lawmakers in the House.
In his nearly 70-minute-long speech on 'Parliamentary Democracy and its Challenges Today', Mukherjee took the audience through the journey of the different Acts passed during the days of the British East India Company to the eventual creation of the Republic of India through its Constitution.
The first thing is the diminishing days of session, both in Parliament and state assemblies.
"In the first and second Lok Sabha, the sessions were held for 26 weeks a year, that is nearly half of the year. So, I feel the length of session should be increased. The prime minister has the power to do it in consultation with the Cabinet.
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"Even on these days, most of the the time is lost in pointless partisanship and acrimonious blame-game between the treasury and opposition benches," he said.
The former president compared the scale of the first budget and that of Union Budget 2018, saying in the latter a number of demands (expenditure proposals) have been made.
"But, what kind of scrutiny have been done, and how much prior discussion has gone into them," he asked.
So, to have a better scrutiny of expenditure proposals, "we need to have more discussion in the House," he said.
The 83-year-old former president also said simultaneous election of Assembly and Parliament would be difficult to hold, even by bringing an amendment in the Constitution.
"The dictum was 3D -- debate, dissension and decision, but some people have added an extra 'd', i.e., disruption. Instead of raising issues during a Question Hour and cross-examining a lawmaker, sloganeering wastes time of the House, "Mukherjee lamented, adding, "people must realise that disruption doesn't bring any harm to a government".
J K Governor N N Vohra, who chaired the session at the event held at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, also said their was a "growing concern" about the functioning of Parliament.
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