Question : Examine the powers and functions of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha ?
(Question in GS Paper – 1I CS Mains Exam, 1989 )
Some Points :
Lok Sabha Speaker’s powers can be broadly classified as 4
categories :
I)Regulatory Powers
II)Supervisory Powers
III)Administrative Powers
IV)Special Powers
1)Regultory Powers:-
1)Maitaining order and decorum in the House for conducting
Parliamentary business
2)Allocating time for different kinds of businesses in the
House
3)Interpreting the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure
4)Putting matters to vote and announcing the result
5)Casting Vote to break the tie
6)Admitting motions, resolutions and points of order
7)Allowing Members to make an explanation in the House after
relinquishing the office of a minister
8)Addressing the House on an important matter under
consideration to enlighten the members
9)Giving ruling to settle a constitutional point
10)Adjourning the meeting of the House in the absence of
quorum
11)Allowing a member to speak in his mother tongue and
making arrangements for English and Hindi translations of his/her expressions
12)Allowing a ‘secret’ sitting at the request of the Leader
of the House
II) Supervisory
Powers :-
1)Working as Head of Parliamentary committees
2)Issuing directions to the Chairmen of Parliamentary
Committees
3)Asking the Government to supply such and such information
to the House or its Committees in public interest
4)Preventing unparliamentary and irrelevant expressions
5)Making expunction of indecent and incriminatory references
6)Recognising the Members for speaking in the House
7)Asking a member or naming him to leave the House in the
event of his/her disorderly behavior or ordering his Marshal to get the Member
out of the House
8)Adjourning the House in case of grave disorder
9)Allowing for the arrest or service of some legal process
on a Member within the precincts of the House
10)Admitting a privilege motion and issuing warrants of
arrest for nabbing the alleged offender,
11)Implementing the decisions of the House in regard to the
punishment given to a person for some breach of the privileges or contempt of
the House
III)Administrative
Powers : -
1)Keeping control over the Parliament’s Secretariat
2)Regulating lobbies and galleries for the press and the
public
3)Making provision for the accommodation and other amenities
to the Members of the House
4)Making arrangements for the sittings of the House and its
committees
5)Making arrangements for the maintenance of Parliamentary
proceedings and records
6)Making adequate arrangements for the security of the life
and persons of the Members of the House and the staff and property of the House
7)Accepting
or rejecting the resignation of a member of the House after escorting whether
it is submitted under duress or not
IV)Special
Powers :-
1)Certifying a bill after it is passed by the House
2)Deciding
whether a bill is a money bill or not
3)Presiding over the Joint Session of Parliament
4)Working as the channel of communication between the
President and the House
5)Acting as the ex-officio Chairman of the Indian
Parliamentary Group for the Inter-Parliamentary Union
6)Acting as the Chairman of the conferences of presiding
officers
7)Making nominations for the Parliamentary delegations
8)Making obituary references, delivering valedictory
addresses on the expiry of the term of the House and also making formal
reference to important national and international events
9)Correcting patent errors in a bill after it has been
passed by the House
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Apart from the conduct of business, the Speakers perform two
important constitutional functions of
(i)certifying a Bill to be a Money Bill
(over which the Rajya Sabha has limited role), and
(ii)deciding on disqualification
under the Tenth Schedule for defection.
In discharging these roles in the past,
the Speakers have invariably favoured the ruling dispensation, something that
should be avoided.
The Lok Sabha rules provide the Speaker with the powers of
referral of Bills introduced to Standing Committees and suspension of members
for grave disorder up to a maximum of five days.
Referral of Bills to
committees have declined from 71% during 2009-14 to 16% during 2019-24.
With
the return of a coalition government, it is expected that the Speaker would
refer important Bills to Standing committees for scrutiny.
There were also
large-scale suspensions of Opposition MPs during the winter session of Parliament in 2023.
Such suspensions affect the robust functioning of Parliament and should be
carried out with restraint.
========================================================
Shri Om Birla is elected as Speaker of 18th Lok Sabha
Previous records about election of Lok Sabha Sepaker :
According to former Joint Secretary
(Legislation), Lok Sabha Secretariat, the first time an election for the
Speaker’s post took place was in the first Lok Sabha of 1952, when G.V.
Mavalankar defeated Shantaram More.
Then again, in 1967, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy of the Congress won
against Tenneti Viswanathan, whose candidature was supported by former Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then an MP.
And finally, in 1976, during the Emergency, in the fifth Lok
Sabha, Baliram Bhagat was elected Speaker against a competing claim by
Jagannath Rao Joshi of the Jana Sangh.
“In 1976, the election of Baliram Bhagat was necessitated by the
fact that the previous Speaker had been made a Cabinet Minister in the then
Congress government” .
There were two other instances when competing candidates were
put up, in the 10th and 12th Lok Sabha, respectively, but since the government’s
candidates were elected via a voice vote, other motions were considered lapsed.
These instances shine light on the fact that despite the
vicissitudes of coalition politics, it has been a while since voting has taken
place in a contest to elect the Speaker.
The BJP, reduced to 240 MPs in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, and
at the head of a coalition government, is keen to demonstrate its dominance of
the House and the stability of its coalition.
