Even though the Speaker speaks rarely in the House, when she does,
she speaks for the House as a whole. The Speaker is looked upon as the true
guardian of the traditions of parliamentary democracy. Her unique position is
illustrated by the fact that she is placed very high in the Warrant of
Precedence in our country, standing next only to the President, the
Vice-President and the Prime Minister.
In India, through the Constitution of the land, through the Rules of
Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha and through the practices and
conventions, adequate powers are vested in the office of the Speaker to help
her in the smooth conduct of the parliamentary proceedings and for protecting
the independence and impartiality of the office. The Constitution of India
provides that the Speaker's salary and allowances are not to be voted by
Parliament and are to be charged on the Consolidated Fund of India.
Term of Office: The Speaker holds office from the date of her
election till immediately before the first meeting of the Lok Sabha after the
dissolution of the one to which she was elected. She is eligible for
re-election. On the dissolution of the Lok Sabha, although the Speaker ceases
to be a member of the House, she does not vacate her office. The Speaker may, at any time, resign from office
by writing under her hand to the Deputy Speaker. The Speaker can be removed from office only
on a resolution of the House passed by a majority of all the then members of
the House. Such a resolution has to satisfy some conditions like: it should be
specific with respect to the charges and it should not contain arguments,
inferences, ironical expressions, imputations or defamatory statements, etc.
Not only these, discussions should be confined to charges referred to in the
resolution. It is also mandatory to give a minimum of 14 days' notice of the
intention to move the resolution.
Election of Speaker: In the Lok Sabha, the lower House of
the Indian Parliament, both Presiding Officers—the Speaker and the Deputy
Speaker- are elected from among its members by a simple majority of members
present and voting in the House. As such, no specific qualifications are
prescribed for being elected the Speaker. The Constitution only requires that
Speaker should be a member of the House.
But an understanding of the Constitution and the laws of the country and
the rules of procedure and conventions of Parliament is considered a major
asset for the holder of the office of the Speaker. The election of the Speaker
of the Lok Sabha is an important event in the life of the House. One of the
first acts of a newly constituted House is to elect the Speaker. Usually, a
member belonging to the ruling party is elected the Speaker. A healthy
convention, however, has evolved over the years whereby the ruling party
nominates its candidate after informal consultations with the Leaders of other
Parties and Groups in the House. This convention ensures that once elected, the
Speaker enjoys the respect of all sections of the House. There are also
instances when members not belonging to the ruling party or coalition were
elected to the office of the Speaker.
Once a decision on the candidate is taken, her name is normally proposed
by the Prime Minister or the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs. If more than
one notice is received, these are entered in the order of receipt. The Speaker
pro term presides over the sitting in which the Speaker is elected, if it is a
newly constituted House. If the election falls later in the life of a Lok Sabha
the Deputy Speaker presides. The motions which are moved and duly seconded are
put one by one in the order in which they are moved, and decided, if necessary,
by division. If any motion is carried, the person presiding shall, without
putting the latter motions, declare that the member proposed in the motion
which has been carried has been chosen as the Speaker of the House. After the
results are announced, the Speaker-elect is conducted to the Chair by the Prime
Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. She is then felicitated by Leaders
of all Political Parties and Groups in the House to which she replies in a
thanks-giving speech. And from then the new Speaker takes over.
Speaker in the Chair:
In the Lok Sabha Chamber,
the Speaker's Chair is distinctively placed and, from her seat, she gets a
commanding view of the entire House. Insofar as the proceedings are concerned,
she is guided by the provisions of the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure
and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha. She also benefits from the Directions
issued by her predecessors which are compiled periodically. Besides, she is
assisted by the Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha and senior officers of the
Secretariat on parliamentary activities and on matters of practice and
procedure. In the absence of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker discharges her
functions. A member from the Panel of Chairmen presides over the House in the
absence of both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker.
The Speaker has extensive functions to perform in matters
administrative, judicial and regulatory, falling under her domain. She enjoys
vast authority under the Constitution and the Rules, as well as inherently. As
the conventional head of the Lok Sabha and as its principal spokesman, the
Speaker represents its collective voice. Of course, she is the ultimate arbiter
and interpreter of those provisions which relate to the functioning of the
House. Her decisions are final and binding and ordinarily cannot be questioned,
challenged or criticised.
Regulating the Business of the House
The final authority for adopting rules for regulating its procedure
rests with each House, but a perusal of the rules of the Indian Parliament
would indicate that the Presiding Officers in the two Houses are given vast
powers by the rules. It is the Presiding Officer who decides the admissibility
of a Question; it is she who decides the forms in which amendments may be moved
to the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address. With regard to moving
amendments to a Bill, the permission of the Chair is required. If a Bill is
pending before the House, it is the Speaker who decides whether she should
allow amendments to be moved to various clauses of the Bill or not. As regards regulating discussions in the
House, it is the Speaker who decides as to when a member shall speak and how
long she shall speak. It is left to her to ask a member to discontinue her
speech or even decide that what a particular member said may not go on record
as part of the proceedings. If she is satisfied, the Speaker can direct a
member to withdraw from the House for a specific period of time. A member who
flouts her orders or directions may be named by the Speaker and in such cases,
she may have to withdraw from the House.
The Speaker is the guardian of the rights and privileges of the
House, its Committees and members. It depends solely on the Speaker to refer
any question of privilege to the Committee of Privileges for examination,
investigation and report. It is through her that the decisions of the House are
communicated to outside individuals and authorities. It is the Speaker who
decides the form and manner in which the proceedings of the House is published.
She also issues warrants to execute the orders of the House, wherever
necessary, and delivers reprimands on behalf of the House. The entire
Parliamentary Estate is under the authority of the Speaker. When a decision of
the House is to be ascertained on a motion made by a member, the question is
put by the Speaker before the House to obtain the decision. On questions of
points of order, it is she who finally decides whether the matter raised is in
order or not. The Speaker also has
certain residuary powers under the Rules of Procedure. All matters which are
not specifically provided under the rules and all questions relating to the
working of the rules are regulated by her. In exercise of this power and under
her inherent powers, the Speaker issues from time to time directions which are
generally treated as sacrosanct as the Rules of Procedure. On matters regarding
interpretation of constitutional provisions relating to the House or the Rules
of Procedure, she often gives rulings which are respected by members and are
binding in nature. Under the Constitution, the Speaker enjoys a special
position insofar as certain matters pertaining to the relations between the two
Houses of Parliament are concerned. She certifies Money Bills and decides
finally what are money matters by reason of the Lok Sabha's overriding powers
in financial matters. It is the Speaker of the Lok Sabha who presides over
joint sittings called in the event of disagreement between the two Houses on a
legislative measure. As regards recognition of parliamentary parties it is the
Speaker who lays down the necessary guidelines for such recognition. It is she
who decides on granting recognition to the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok
Sabha. Following the 52nd Constitution amendment, the Speaker is vested with
the power relating to the disqualification of a member of the Lok Sabha on
grounds of defection. The Speaker makes
obituary references in the House, formal references to important national and
international events and the valedictory address at the conclusion of every
Session of the Lok Sabha and also when the term of the House expires. Though a
member of the House, the Speaker does not vote in the House except on those
rare occasions when there is a tie at the end of a decision. Till date, the
Speaker of the Lok Sabha has not been called upon to exercise this unique
casting vote.
Speaker and the Committees
The Committees of the House function under the overall direction of
the Speaker. All such Committees are constituted by her or by the House. The
Chairmen of all Parliamentary Committees are nominated by her. Any procedural
problems in the functioning of the Committees are referred to her for
directions. Committees like the Business Advisory Committee, the General
Purposes Committee and the Rules Committee work directly under her
Chairmanship.
Speaker and Members
The Speaker is at once a member of the House as also its Presiding
Officer. It is always the Speaker's task to ensure that parliamentary decorum
is maintained under all circumstances. For this she is invested with
wide-ranging disciplinary powers under the rules. On the one hand, she strives
to give adequate opportunities to all sections of the House to ventilate their
views and on the other she has to preserve the dignity of the House. The
Speaker's position in such situations is certainly unenviable. It is indeed a
delicate task which calls for diplomacy, firmness, persuasion and perseverance
of a high order. The Speaker also keeps
open a variety of informal channels of communication with individual members
and the Leaders of Parties and Groups in the Lok Sabha. She interacts with
Leaders of Parliamentary Parties at luncheon meetings on the eve of every
Session. These are important occasions when she gets to know the mood of
various parties on a wide spectrum of issues. The Speaker has to see to it that
Parliament functions the way that it is intended to under the Constitution. All
in all, it is always a tight-rope walk for the Speaker.
Speaker and Inter-Parliamentary Relations
The Speaker has certain other functions to perform as the head of
the Lok Sabha. She is the ex officio President of the Indian Parliamentary
Group (IPG), set up in 1949, which functions as the National Group of the
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Main Branch of the Commonwealth
Parliamentary Association (CPA). In that capacity, members of various Indian
Parliamentary Delegations going abroad are nominated by her after consulting
the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Most often, the Speaker leads such
Delegations. Besides, she is the Chairman of the Conference of Presiding
Officers of Legislative Bodies in India.
Speaker's Administrative Role
The Speaker is the head of the Lok Sabha Secretariat which functions
under her ultimate control and direction. The Speaker's authority over the
Secretariat staff of the House, its precincts and its security arrangements is
supreme. All strangers, visitors and press correspondents are subject to her
discipline and orders and any breach of order may be punished by means of
exclusion from the precincts of the Parliament House or stoppage of admission
tickets to the galleries for definite or indefinite period, or in more serious
cases, dealt with as a contempt or breach of privilege. No alternation or
addition can be made in the Parliament House and no new structure can be
erected in the Parliament Estate without the Speaker's permission.
Conclusion
The office of the Speaker in India is a living and dynamic
institution which deals with the actual needs and problems of Parliament in the
performance of its functions. The Speaker is the constitutional and ceremonial
head of the House. She is the principal spokesperson of the House. It is in her
that the responsibility of conducting the business of the House in a manner
befitting the place of the institution in a representative democracy is
invested. The founding fathers of our Constitution had recognised the importance
of this office in our democratic set-up and it was this recognition that guided
them in establishing this office as one of the prominent and dignified ones in
the scheme of governance of the country. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, one of the
chief architects of India's freedom and a moving force behind its Constitution,
placed the office of the Speaker in India in the proper context when he
said:
The Speaker represents the House. He/she represents the dignity of
the House, the freedom of the House and because the House represents the
nation, in a particular way, the Speaker becomes a symbol of nation's freedom
and liberty. Therefore that should be an honoured position, a free position and
should be occupied always by persons of outstanding ability and impartiality.
This would explain why this office still remains one of the most
crucial ones in the life of every Lok Sabha
