Be Mains Ready

Approach

• Introduce by giving the essence of parliamentary democracy and the need for an impartial speaker.
• Explain the constitutional status of the office of speaker and its functions.
• Analyze the performance of Speaker with regard to the principles of Indian democracy.
• Give some suggestions to improve the situation in the way forward.

Introduction

While the members of Parliament represent the individual constituencies, the Speaker represents the full authority of the House itself. She symbolises the dignity and power of the House over which she is presiding.

Body

Position of speaker

• The 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.
• 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.

Speaker of Lok Sabha has been provided with wide powers derived from the Constitutional provisions, the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha and through the practices and conventions. Some of these are:

• Speaker decides the agenda of the house and permits the passage of various parliamentary procedures like the motion of adjournment, the motion of no confidence, the motion of censure, etc.
• Power to disqualify legislators under Tenth Schedule.
• Speaker decides whether a bill is a money bill or not and her decision is final in this regard.
• The Speaker presides over the joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament.
• She appoints the Chairman of all the parliamentary committees of the Lok Sabha and supervises their functioning. She herself is the Chairman of the Business Advisory Committee, the Rules Committee and the General Purpose Committee.

Therefore, it is expected that the holder of this office of high dignity has to be one who can represent the House in all its manifestations.

However, there are several instances when Speaker’s role is criticized:

• Misuse of anti defection law: For ex: In 2011, Supreme Court quashed the disqualification of few MLAs by Karnataka Legislative Assembly Speaker Mr. K.G. Bopaiah criticizing that his decision did not meet the twin tests of natural justice and fair play.
• Discretionary power: Her power to declare bills as money bills is often criticized.
  
  • Referring bills to Departmentally Related Standing Committees (DSRCs): Speaker uses her discretionary power to pass many important bills without proper discussion and references to DSRCs.
• Appointment and tenure: The speaker in India does not follow the practice of resigning from her political party which raises concerns of biases in her decision making.

Despite criticism, there were numerous examples of exemplary behavior by Speakers of different assemblies. The impartial role played by the Speaker of Karnataka in the current political crisis is a case in point. Hence, the Speaker needs to be politically unbiased and should abide by the constitution.

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. In the words of Pt. Nehru “The Speaker 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.”

This sums up why Speaker is regarded as the true guardian of the traditions of parliamentary democracy in India.