Powers of the Speaker and how can impartiality and independence be maintained in the Lok Sabha?

A Speaker is not merely a Presiding Officer of the Lok Sabha, he is the head and the representative of the members of the Lower House. He is the guardian and the final interpreter of the Constitution during a parliamentary proceeding.

The position of the speaker is one of the most important positions in a democracy. It is ranked 7th in order of precedence along with the Chief Justice of India which is above all the Cabinet members but below the Prime Minister or the Deputy Prime Minister. Thus ensuring its impartiality and independence is very important for the proper functioning of the Lok Sabha.

Ways that are being followed to maintain the independence of the position of the Speaker are:

• Secured tenure of the Speaker:- The tenure of the Speaker is fixed and is not removed when the Lok Sabha is dissolved, he continues as the Speaker until the new Speaker is elected.
• The speaker’s Acts in the discharge of his duties cannot be questioned: Acts of the Speaker cannot be discussed or voted upon during Parliamentary proceedings unless a motion for his removal is accepted in the Parliament.
• Removing the Speaker is not very easy: Removing a Speaker from his position requires an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, i.e,( more than 50% of the total number of seats in a Lok Sabha). The motion proceeds only if at least 50 members are in support of the motion. More than a 14 days notice has to be served before the motion is discussed in the Lok Sabha.
• Removal of the Speaker’s position doesn’t mean removal from the Lok Sabha as a member of the Parliament: Even if the Speaker is removed from his power he can remain as an MP and is not disqualified from being a member of the Parliament.

What are the powers of the Speaker?

The Speaker derives his powers from three sources they are:

1. The Constitution
2. The Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the House
3. Parliamentary Conventions

These sources give the following powers to the Speaker they are:

1. The primary function of the speaker is to maintain the decorum of the house while conducting the business of the House.
2. The Speaker is the final interpreter of the Constitution, the Rules of Procedure and the Conduct of Business of the House and the Parliamentary Conventions.
3. The Speaker decides if a bill is an ordinary bill or a money bill.
4. The Speaker acts as a Quasi- Judicial body while deciding if a member is to be disqualified under the Tenth Schedule or if the Anti-Defection Law is applicable or not.
5. The Speaker adjourns the House in case of the absence of a quorum.
6. The Speaker is the Presiding Officer in case of a joint sitting of the Parliament.
7. The Speaker is an ex-officio member of all the joint Parliamentary groups and Committees.
8. The Speaker decides if a bill is passed or not, during voting by voice.
9. The work of the Speaker in conducting the business of the house cannot be questioned in any Court.

How can the powers of the Speaker be misused?

The powers and position of the Speaker have often been misused in the past. For example, in the case of the Aadhaar Bill which was introduced in the House as a money bill, it was done to bypass the Rajya Sabha. There are certain cases where the Speaker did not take action in the case of disqualification of a member of the House. The Speaker often miscalculated the votes in case of voting by voice or sometimes biases were shown towards the ruling party which led to the disruption of the parliament by the opposition.

The misuse of such an important position in the Parliament degrades the underlying values of democracy which call for proper discussion and debates in the Parliament before implementing any law. Recently in a Global Survey, India was reduced from democracy to partial democracy status. The misuse of the position of the Speaker can be one of the reasons.

Experts often say that India should follow the UK model where the Speaker just after being elected as a Speaker should resign from any political party, to become completely neutral and cannot be removed from his position just due to the dissolution of the government.

Conclusion

The position of the Speaker is one of the most important to facilitate the smooth running of a democracy. But the misuse of power often leads to corruption and degrades the soul of democracy. Thus, it becomes important for the Speaker to act in an unbiased manner and uphold the Constitutional spirit.