The Parliament – Presiding Officers of Lok Sabha

• (Article 79 to 122 of Part V)
• Parliament is the legislative organ of the Union Government.
• Since, India has a Parliamentary system, hence Parliament occupies the central Position.

Presiding Officers of Parliament

• Each house has its own Presiding Officer in Parliament.
• In Lok Sabha, Speaker and Deputy Speaker and a panel of Chairpersons are present.
• In Rajya Sabha, Chairman and Deputy Chairman and a panel of Vice chairpersons is appointed.

Presiding Officers of Lok Sabha

• Presiding officers of Lok Sabha includes Speaker and Deputy Speaker. The Speaker nominates a panel of Chairpersons (not more than 10 members) which in absence of Speaker and Deputy Speaker can presides the House.
• The institutions of Speaker and Deputy Speaker originated in India in 1921 under the provisions of the Government of India Act of 1919 (Montague – Chelmsford Reforms).

 

Speaker of Lok Sabha

Election and Tenure

• • • Elected by the Lok Sabha from amongst its members.
    • Whenever there is vacancy in the office, Lok Sabha elects another member to fill the vacancy.
    • Date of election of the Speaker is fixed by the President.
    • Tenure – During the life of Lok Sabha.
    • Speaker has to vacate his office earlier in any of the following three cases –
      • 1. If he ceases to be a member of the Lok Sabha
        2. If he resigns by writing to the Deputy Speaker
        3. If he is removed by a resolution passed by a majority of all the members of the Lok Sabha. Such a resolution can be moved only after giving 14 days’ advance notice.
    • When the resolution is under consideration of the House, he cannot preside at the sitting of the House. However he can vote but not in case of equality of votes.
    • Whenever the Lok Sabha is dissolved, the Speaker does not vacate his office and continues till the newly-elected Lok Sabha meets.

 

Role, Powers and Functions

• • • He is Head of Lok Sabha and its representative.
    • He is principle spokesman of the House, and his decision in all Parliamentary matters is final.
    • The Speaker derives its powers and Duties from the following –
      1. the Constitution of India
      2. the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of Lok Sabha, and
      3. Parliamentary Conventions.

 

Powers

• • • According to the Constitution of India, a Speaker is vested with immense administrative and discretionary powers, some of which are enumerated below –

1. 1. 1. 1. Primary duty of the speaker is to maintain order and decorum in Lok Sabha. He preside over the house and conduct the meetings of the House in orderly manner. No member can speak in the House without his permission.
         2. His interpretations of constitutional provisions, rules and regulations related to Lok Sabha are final.
         3. In absence of Quorum, he can decide to suspend the meeting.
         4. Adjournment of Lok Sabha is done by Speaker.
         5. All the Bills, reports, motions and resolutions are introduced with Speaker’s permission.
         6. He puts the motion or bill to vote but initially does not participate in the voting. However, when there is a tie i.e. equal number of votes on both sides, he can use his casting vote. Objective of casting vote is to resolve a deadlock.
         7. He decides whether the bill is money bill or not and his decision in this regards is final. When a money bill is passed in Lok Sabha and sent to Rajya Sabha, Speaker’s endorsement is needed on that.
         8. In case of joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha (which is called by President), the Speaker presides over the meeting.
         9. On the request of the Leader of the House, Speaker may allow a secret meeting. None other than those permitted by speaker can be present in secret meeting.
         10. He works as ex-officio chairman of Indian Parliamentary Group of the Inter-parliamentary Union.
         11. He disqualifies a member of his/her membership in case of defection (10^th Schedule).
         12. He also accepts the resignation of members and decides about the genuineness of the resignation.
         13. Chairman of all the parliamentary committees of Lok Sabha are appointed by Speaker, provided such committees don’t need elected chairman. He also supervise them. Speaker himself is the chairman of Business Advisory Committee, Rules Committee and General Purpose Committee.
         14. The Secretary General of the Lok Sabha is appointed by the Speaker.

 

Resignation and Removal

• • • The speaker automatically ceases to be so if he is disqualified to be a member of Lok Sabha due to reasons whatsoever.
    • He can vacate his office by addressing a resignation letter to Deputy Speaker.
    • He can also be removed by the members of Lok Sabha by a resolution passed by absolute majority of Lok Sabha. However, a 14 days advanced notice must be given for such resolution.
    • The motion of removal can be considered and discussed only when it has the support of at least 50 members. These provisions make removal of speaker difficult and provide him security of tenure.
    • When such resolution is under consideration of the house, Speaker cannot preside the meeting of the house, however, he is eligible to participate and vote except the casting vote in case if equality of votes.

 

Independence and Impartiality

• • • Since the Office of speaker of Lok Sabha have great responsibility, functions and authority. Hence, Independence and Impartiality should be its important concern. It is ensured by the following measures –
      1. He is provided by Security of Tenure and can be removed only by absolute majority of Lok Sabha and the motion should be supported by at least 50 members.
      2. His salaries and allowance are fixed by parliament and are charged on Consolidated Funds of India.
      3. His work and conduct cannot be discussed and criticised in the Lok Sabha except of Substantive motion.
      4. His powers of regulating procedures and maintain orders in the Lok Sabha cannot be questioned in any court.
      5. He is given a very high position in the order of precedence. He is placed at seventh rank, along with the Chief Justice of India.

 

Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha

• • Elected from amongst the members of the Lok Sabha.
  • Elected only after the election of Speaker has taken place.
  • Whenever the office Deputy Speaker falls vacant, the Lok Sabha elects another members to fills the vacancy.

 

Term and Vacancy

• • • Like the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker remains in office usually during the life of the Lok Sabha.
    • However, he may vacate his office earlier in any of the following three cases –
      1. If he ceases to be a member of the Lok Sabha
      2. If he resigns by writing to the Speaker
      3. If he is removed by a resolution passed by a majority of all the members of the Lok Sabha. Such a resolution can be moved only after giving 14 days’ advance notice.

 

Duties and Powers

• • • Deputy Speaker performs the duties of Speaker’s office when it is vacant. He is responsible to perform the duties of Speaker in absence of him from the sitting of House. In both the cases, he has full powers of the Speaker.
    • The Deputy Speaker has one special privilege, that is, whenever he is appointed as a member of a parliamentary committee, he automatically becomes its chairman.
    • Deputy speaker is not subordinate to the Speaker and is directly responsible to Lok Sabha.
    • Similar to Speaker, he cannot vote over first instance while presiding the house. He can exercise only casting vote in case of Tie.
    • When Speaker Presides over the House, than, Deputy Speaker is like other members of the House and can participate, speak and vote on any questions before the house.
    • The Deputy Speaker is entitled to a regular salary and allowance fixed by Parliament, and charged on the Consolidated Fund of India.

 

Panel of Chairpersons

• • The Speaker appoints a panel of not more than 10 members from amongst members of Lok Sabha.
  • Any of them can presides the House in absence of Speaker or Deputy Speaker. He holds office until a new panel of chairpersons is nominated.
  • Note – Member of the panel of chairpersons cannot preside over the House, when the office of the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker is vacant. It is decided by President who will perform the duties of Speaker in this case.

 

Speaker Pro Tem

• • Since the office of Speaker is vacated after the dissolution of Lok Sabha, hence before the first meeting of newly elected Lok Sabha, the President appoints a member of the Lok Sabha as Speaker Pro Tem.
  • The Speaker Pro Tem has all the powers of the Speaker.
  • He presides over the First meet of Lok Sabha and his main duty is to administer oath to the new members. He also enables the house to elect the new speaker.
  • After the election of new Speaker, the office of Speaker Pro Tem ceases to exist.

 

 

So, this was all about the Presiding officers of Lok Sabha (Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Panel of Chairpersons and Speaker Pro Tem) and Rajya Sabha (Chairman, Deputy Chairman and Panel of Vice-Chairpersons).

In next Post (Click Here), we will discuss about the Sessions of the Parliament.