Office of Speaker

Published on 16 Jan 2025

The Speaker of the Lok Sabha is the presiding officer and the highest authority of the Lok Sabha. The Speaker is elected by the members of the Lok Sabha among its own members and serves the office until removed from power by the house.

Relevance and powers of the Speaker

• Presiding over sessions: The Speaker presides over the session, determines the agenda for the session, and is the final interpreter of the rules to be followed in the house.

• Maintain order within the house: The Speaker is responsible for maintaining decorum within the house and has the power to take disciplinary action against members who disrupt proceedings.

• Casting vote: The Speaker can vote only in case of a tie, with his vote being the casting vote This is to ensure the neutrality of the Speaker.

• Certification of money bill: A bill can be recognized as a money bill only when the Speaker gives such a certification to the bill.

• Committee appointment: The Speaker is responsible for constituting various Parliamentary committees. He also presides over the General Purpose Committee, Business Advisory Committee, and the Rules Committee.

• Representing the house: The Speaker represents the legislative body to the outside world, maintains relations with other officials and participates in the international Parliamentary forum.

Issues with the office of Speaker and misuse of power

• Concerns regarding neutrality: The Speaker is expected to be impartial in their functioning, but since the person belongs to the ruling party, he might be tilted to his party’s interest.

• Example: In 2022, Om Birla suspended 4 Congress MPs for the entire monsoon session which was alleged as a politically driven action.

• Enforcement of rules: There have been concerns regarding the effectiveness with which rules of the house have been enforced with more disciplinary action against opposition members.

• Role in anti-defection: The absence of a time limit on deciding upon anti defection issues gives the speaker privilege to misuse his position for the gain of the ruling party.

• Example: In Manipur, the Speaker has not responded to the petition against defection of an MLA for 3 years. Finally, the Supreme Court intervened under Article 142.

• Declining productivity of the house: Since the Speaker is the ultimate guardian of the house, poor productivity of the house indicates poor performance from the Speaker in curbing disruptions.

• Example: In the 17th Lok Sabha, only 11 short-duration discussions and one-half-hour discussions have been held till 2023.

• Powers to disallow questions and motions: The authority is being misused to deny opportunity to the opposition to question the government, which results in disruptions.

• Example: In the 17th Lok Sabha, the speaker has till now entertained no private member bill to be introduced.

Way forward

• Irish model: The Speaker must resign from party roles and political ambitions.

• UK model: Sitting speaker will not lose his seat and no other candidate can contest in that constituency to ensure independent functioning.

• Dinesh Goswami committee: The President, based on the recommendation of Election Commission, to decide upon cases of defection.

• Page committee: If a Speaker performs in an impartial manner, he should be allowed to continue office next term.

Inspirations could be made from these models to make the office of speaker more independent, nonpartisan and neutral which can improve the functioning of the legislature.

Tags:
Polity

Keywords:
Office of Speaker speaker presiding officer Casting vote impartial neutrality anti-defection

Syllabus:
General Studies Paper 2

Topics:
Parliament and State Legislatures