Speaker role and adjournment

Subject: Polity

Context:

Lok Sabha Speaker obliged to demand for adjournment of the House. The request was made as several Opposition members were on a sit-in protest in Rajya Sabha, which would have meant that MPs allocated seats there on account of social distancing protocol would not have been able to take their places.

Concept:

• The Speaker is elected by the Lok Sabha from amongst its members (as soon asmay be, after its first sitting).
• Whenever the office of the Speaker falls vacant, the Lok Sabha electsanother member to fill the vacancy. The date of election of the Speaker is fixed by the President.
• Usually, the Speaker remains in office during the life of the Lok Sabha. However, he has to vacate his office earlier in any of the following three cases:
  • if he ceases to be a member of the Lok Sabha;
  • if he resigns by writing to the Deputy Speaker; and
  • 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 a resolution for the removal of the Speaker is under consideration of the House, he cannotpreside at the sitting of the House, though he may be present. However, he can speak and take part inthe proceedings of the House at such a time and vote in the first instance, though not in the case of anequality of votes.
• It should be noted here that, whenever the Lok Sabha is dissolved, the Speaker does not vacate hisoffice and continues till the newly- elected Lok Sabha meets.
• The Speaker is the head of the Lok Sabha, and its representative. He is the guardian of powers and privileges of the members, the House as a whole and its committees. He is the principal spokesman of the House, and his decision in all Parliamentary matters is final. He is thus much more than merely the presiding officer of the Lok Sabha.
• The Speaker of the Lok Sabha derives his powers and duties from three sources, that is, the Constitution of India, the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of Lok Sabha, and Parliamentary Conventions (residuary powers that are unwritten or unspecified in the Rules).
• Altogether, he has the following powers and duties:
  • He maintains order and decorum in the House for conducting its business and regulating its proceedings. This is his primary responsibility and he has final power in this regard.
  • He is the final interpreter of the provisions of (a) the Constitution of India, (b) the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of Lok Sabha, and (c) the parliamentary precedents, within the House.
  • He adjourns the House or suspends the meeting in absence of a quorum. The quorum to constitute a meeting of the House is one-tenth of the total strength of the House
  • He does not vote in the first instance. But he can exercise a casting vote in the case of a tie. In other words, only when the House is divided equally on any question, the Speaker is entitled to vote. Such vote is called casting vote, and its purpose is to resolve a deadlock.
  • He presides over a joint setting of the two Houses of Parliament. Such a sitting is summoned by the President to settle a deadlock between the two Houses on a bill.
  • He can allow a ‘secret’ sitting of the House at the request of the Leader of the House. When the House sits in secret, no stranger can be present in the chamber, lobby or galleries except with the permission of the Speaker.
  • He decides whether a bill is a money bill or not and his decision on this question is final. When a money bill is transmitted to the Rajya Sabha for recommendation and presented to the President for assent, the Speaker endorses on the bill his certificate that it is a money bill.
  • He decides the questions of disqualification of a member of the Lok Sabha, arising on the ground of defection under the provisions of the Tenth Schedule. In 1992, the Supreme Court ruled that the decision of the Speaker in this regard is subject to judicial review.
  • He acts as the ex-officio chairman of the Indian Parliamentary Group of the Inter- Parliamentary Union. He also acts as the ex-officio chairman of the conference of presiding officers of legislative bodies in the country.
  • He appoints the chairman of all the parliamentary committees of the Lok Sabha and supervises their functioning. He himself is the chairman of the Business Advisory Committee, the Rules Committee and the General Purpose Committee.