Immediately after the current Lok Sabha meeting on 17 June 2019, Speaker (Speaker) Om Birla was elected, but the post of Deputy Speaker is still vacant. As per the rules, the elected speaker must notify the election of his deputy immediately after his appointment. However, Birla has refrained from doing so.
Lok Sabha. (File photo: PTI)
New Delhi: The absence of the Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha for nearly four years has become the latest bone of contention between the central government and the opposition.
While the Congress claimed that the absence of a deputy speaker in the lower house (Lok Sabha) was “unconstitutional”, government sources said that the absence of a deputy speaker does not hamper the proceedings of the house in any way and that the deputy speaker has There is no ‘urgent need’.
Nearly three years and seven months have passed since the first sitting of the present Lok Sabha. As per Articles 93 and 178 of the Constitution, the House is required to elect two Presiding Officers at the earliest.
However, the Speaker (Speaker) Om Birla was elected soon after the current Lok Sabha meeting on 17 June 2019, but the post of Deputy Speaker is still vacant.
As per the rules, the elected speaker must notify the election of his deputy almost immediately after his appointment. However, Birla has refrained from doing so.
Speaking to The Wire, former Lok Sabha Secretary General PDT Acharya said that Birla is believed to have taken the decision to choose the deputy speaker, but practically it is the central government’s decision that ensures that the deputy speaker is chosen. .
He said, ‘As per the rules of the Lok Sabha, the speaker fixes the date for the election of the deputy speaker. But in reality it is the government which consults with all the parties and unanimously decides the candidate for the role of deputy speaker.
Traditionally, the government supports the opposition’s candidate for the post of deputy speaker. For example, Charanjit Singh Atwal of Shiromani Akali Dal held the position during 2004-09 when the United Progressive Alliance-I was in power.
Similarly, between 2009-14, Kariya Munda of the Bharatiya Janata Party was the deputy speaker. M. Thambidurai of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) held the chair during the first term of the Narendra Modi government.
In its second term, this could be a strategic move by the Modi government to not appoint an opposition member as Birla’s deputy and keep control of the lower house firmly in its hands.
A Union minister told The Indian Express that there is no “immediate requirement” for a deputy speaker, as “bills are being passed and discussed” as per House procedures.
However, the minister also said that in Birla’s absence, ‘there is a panel of nine members, senior and experienced people selected from different parties, who can act as Speaker to assist the Speaker in running the House. ‘
The panel includes BJP’s Rama Devi, Kirit P. Solanki and Rajendra Agarwal; Kodikunnil Suresh of INC; Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s A. King; PV Midhun Reddy from YSRCP; Bhartrihari Mahtab of Biju Janata Dal; NK Premachandran of Revolutionary Socialist Party and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar of Trinamool Congress are included.
However, Acharya says in his recent article that an assumption has been made that the office of deputy speaker is not mandatory, but the history of the office says otherwise.
Emphasizing that both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker are important for the running of the House, he writes, ‘The history of the office of the Deputy Speaker dates back to the Government of India Act of 1919, when he was called the Deputy President, because The Speaker was known as the President of the Central Legislative Assembly. Although the main function of a deputy speaker was to preside over the meetings of the assembly in the absence of the speaker and to chair select committees, the position was considered necessary to share the responsibilities of running the house with the speaker and to guide new committees. I went.’
He said that the Deputy Speaker has the same powers as the Speaker and is the sole constitutional authority responsible for the functioning of the House in the absence of the Speaker.
He writes, ‘This tradition continued even after independence, when a deputy speaker was elected in addition to the speaker to preside over the meetings of the Constituent Assembly (Legislative). The first Speaker was GV Mavalankar and the first Deputy Speaker was M. Ananthasayanam Ayyangar, who was elected by the Constituent Assembly (Legislative) on 3 September 1948.
He further said, ‘Later under the new constitution, he was elected the first deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha on 28 May 1952. Since then, there was a deputy speaker in every Lok Sabha, who was elected a few days after the election of the speaker.
However, like in many other instances, Prime Minister Modi has violated conventions in the election of the Deputy Speaker as well. Acharya said that the government also has the option of choosing a BJP member for the post of deputy speaker in the Lok Sabha, but it has chosen to keep the post completely vacant, which is surprising and sets a bad precedent.
He argued that any of the opposition members could move a motion requesting the speaker to fix a date for the election of the deputy speaker, as technically only the speaker has the power to do so.
Acharya said, ‘This is the first time that the Lok Sabha has been run without a deputy speaker.’
However, Congress members said that many such requests have been ignored by the Speaker in the past as well. Ideally, the deputy speaker should be elected within a week of the speaker’s appointment, but more than three years have passed since the issue.
Congress chief whip Kodikunnil Suresh told The New Indian Express that the party’s Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has given several petitions to the speaker, parliamentary affairs minister and even the business advisory committees for the vacant deputy speaker’s post, but the government has No reason was given to them.
In a recent tweet, Congress chief spokesperson Jairam Ramesh also raised this issue.
He had tweeted, ‘There is no Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha for the last four years. This is unconstitutional. The present situation is disappointing because there was a time when Nehru proposed the name of Sardar Hukam Singh, MP from the opposition Akali Dal and Nehru’s critic, for the post and he was unanimously elected.
For the last 4 years there has been no Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha. This is unconstitutional. What a far cry from March 1956 when Nehru proposed the name of Sardar Hukam Singh an Opposition Akali Dal MP & a critic of Nehru for the post & he was unanimously elected.
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) Mar 5, 2023
The issue was recently raised in the Supreme Court as well, when Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala, while hearing a petition by the Central Government and five other legislatures- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand Issued notices to , Jharkhand and Manipur seeking their answers on their failure to elect the deputy speaker.
Citing Articles 93 and 178, the bench reminded the central government that the election of the deputy speaker is mandatory.
Click here to read this report in English.
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