The Office of the Speaker in Indian Polity

IN NEWS:

Recently, the Supreme Court put the Maharashtra Speaker on a deadline to decide on pending disqualification petitions filed under the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) of the Constitution.

THE OFFICE OF THE SPEAKER:

• Under the Indian Constitution, the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies elect two of its members to be the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively.
• Article 93 of the Indian Constitution states that the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of the People shall be elected by the House of the People. Similarly, Article 178 speaks about the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assemblies in the states.

ROLE, POWERS, AND FUNCTIONS OF THE SPEAKER:

ISSUES RELATED TO SPEAKER’S OFFICE:

• Questions over neutrality:
  • On several occasions, the office of speaker has been criticised for being an agent of pernicious partisan politics.
  • The root cause for this is the manner of their appointment. They contest the election for the post on a party ticket. Yet they are expected to conduct themselves in a non-partisan manner, while being beholden to the party for a ticket for the next election.
• Adjudicating powers of speaker under Tenth Schedule:
  • The determination of whether a representative has become subject to disqualification for defection is made by the presiding officer of the House. This offers ample scope for Speakers to exercise discretion.
  • For instance, in the recent case of Maharastra, the CJI said the need to bind the speaker to deadlines had come as the speaker delayed the disqualification proceedings even after giving him repeated opportunities.
• Helping party in power during no-confidence motion:
  • For instance, Meghalaya Speaker, P.R. Kyndiah, suspended the voting rights and later even disqualified five MLAs in the 1990s, just prior to a no-confidence motion.
• Executive lure speaker with ministership:
  • For instance, G.S. Dhillon, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, was asked to step down by the Prime Minister in 1975, and made Union Minister for Shipping — a precedent that has allowed future holders of the position to harbour political ambitions.
• Absoluteness of the Speaker’s decisions:
  • The speaker has the power to take decisions on several matters such as deciding on whether a bill is a money bill or not (Article 110), deciding on parliamentary matters etc. They have in many occasions come under the scanner.
  • For instance, the speaker’s action of deciding the Aadhaar bill as a money bill was subjected to severe criticism.
• Misuse of speaker’s power to suspend members:
  • For instance, 12 MLAs of the Maharashtra Assembly were suspended for a year in July 2021.
  • Also, instances of suspension of almost all the MLAs of the Tamil Nadu Assembly in 2016, from the House while protesting, raise crucial questions about the health of our democracy.
• Partisanship by speakers affects parliamentary functioning:
  • For instance, the Speaker has the authority to refer bills introduced to the Parliamentary Standing Committees. However, even significant bills that require detailed scrutiny are not referred to such committees.
  • For eg. more than 60% of bills referred to committees in the Lok Sabha during 2004–14, less than 25% have been referred during 2014–2023.
• Need for re-election also skews incentives for the Speaker:
  • No sitting Speaker of the House of Commons in Britain has lost his or her seat, given the convention not to field candidates in the Speaker’s constituency.
  • In comparison, in India, there are many Speakers who have lost their seats in general elections.
• Violation of parliamentary conventions in appointment:
  • Usually, a member belonging to the ruling party is elected the as Speaker in Lok Sabha.
  • 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.
  • Also, since the 11th Lok Sabha, there has been a consensus that the Speaker comes from the ruling party (or ruling alliance) and the post of Deputy Speaker goes to the main opposition party.
  • However, in recent times, both these conventions have been bypassed.
• No incentives for taking up the mantle:
  • In the British Parliament, once the speaker demits the office, he is automatically elevated to the House of Lords.
  • However, Indian speakers are not made members of the Rajya Sabha after they demit office. They have to contest again.
• Limits the realization of needs of their constituencies:
  • Though they may be elected as speakers, the member continues to be elected representatives.But they are unable to bat for the interests of their constituencies in the house.

SUGGESTIONS:

• Speaker should renounce all political affiliations:
  • Political experts have suggested that a scheme should be brought wherein Speakers should renounce all political affiliations, membership and activity once they have been elected, both within the Assembly and in the country as a whole.
• Speaker should be allowed to continue in the next Parliament.
  • The V.S Page Committee suggested that if the Speaker had conducted himself or herself in an impartial and efficient manner during the tenure of his or her office, he or she should be allowed to continue in the next Parliament.
  • We could follow British system where speaker is automatically elevated to the House of Lords (second chamber), after his/her term.
• Barred from future posts:
  • Any Speaker should be barred from future political office, save that of the President, while being given a pension for life.
• Establishing new conventions:
  • Taking partisanship out of the post will require establishing other conventions.
  • Until 1996, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha always belonged to the ruling party.
  • The election of P.A. Sangma of the Congress, on a unanimous basis, set another convention – with the Speaker belonging to a party other than the ruling party.
  • However we have reversed track and moved back towards having the Speaker being from the ruling coalition.
• Speakers power regarding 10th schedule should be amended:
  • The adjudicating powers of speaker on matters regarding 10th schedule should be removed.The same may be entrusted with the President or Governor, whose decisions should be based on the advice rendered by the election commission.
  • The minority judges in Kihoto Hollohan (1992) were of the view that vesting the power to decide on defections with the Speaker violates the basic democratic principles.
  • The SC in Keisham Meghachandra Singh vs The Honble Speaker Manipur (2020) case recommended that Parliament amend the Constitution to vest these powers in an independent tribunal to be headed by judges.
• Dinesh Goswami committee recommendations:
  • In the context of the anti-defection law, the Committee recommended transferring the decision-making power from the Speaker to the President in the case of Parliament and to the Governor in the case of state assemblies. This decision by the President or Governor should be made in consultation with the Election Commission.

CONCLUSION:

• As the guardian of parliamentary propriety, the Speaker's decisions and actions have a lasting impact on the democratic ethos of the nation.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Q. “Speaker’s office has been criticised for being an agent of pernicious partisan politics”. In the light of this statement suggest some measures to strengthen the institution of the Speaker.