The Parliament of India is a bicameral
legislature. It has Rajya Sabha, which is called the Upper House,
and the Lok Sabha, which is called the Lower House. The Lok Sabha is also known
as the House of the People. In the Lok Sabha, both Presiding Officers
that is, the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, are elected from among its
members by a simple majority of members present and voting in the House.
As such, no specific qualifications are prescribed for being
elected the Speaker. The Constitution only requires that he should be a
member of the House. In the Rajya Sabha, the Vice-President of India is the ex-officio
Chairman. He is elected by the Members
of an electoral college120 consisting of the Members of both the Houses
of Parliament in accordance with the system of proportional representation
by means140 of a single transferable vote. However, the Deputy
Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is elected by the Members of the160 Rajya Sabha from amongst themselves.
The Office of the Speaker occupies a
pivotal position in the Indian parliamentary polity. In India, through the
Constitution of the land, through the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of
Business in Lok Sabha and through the practices and conventions, adequate
powers are vested in the Office of the Speaker to help him in the smooth
conduct of the parliamentary proceedings and for protecting the
independence and impartiality of the Office. The Constitution of India240 provides that the
Speaker’s salary and allowances are to be charged on the Consolidated Fund
of India. The Speaker
of Lok Sabha has extensive functions to perform in administrative,
judicial and regulatory matters falling under his domain. He enjoys
vast280 authority under the Constitution and the
Rules, as well as inherently. As the conventional head of the Lok Sabha
and as its principal spokesperson, the Speaker represents its collective
voice. He is the guardian of the rights and privileges320 of the House, its Committees and Members. He is the ultimate
arbiter and interpreter of those provisions which relate to the
functioning of the House. Under the
Constitution, the Speaker enjoys a special position insofar as certain matters
pertaining to the360 relations between the two Houses of Parliament are concerned. If
any question arises whether a Bill is a Money Bill or not, the decision
of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha thereon shall be final. The Speaker of the Lok
Sabha presides over the joint sitting of the two Houses.
In
legislative matters, both the Houses enjoy almost equal powers420 except in the case of Money Bills. The main function
of both the Houses is to pass laws. Every Bill has to be
passed by both the Houses and assented to by the President before it
becomes law. In case of Money Bills, the Lok Sabha has overriding
powers. In the case of Bills other than Money Bills and
Constitution480 Amendment Bills, a disagreement between
the two Houses may arise when a Bill passed by one House is rejected by
the other House; or the Houses have finally disagreed as to the amendments to
be made in the Bill; or more than six months have elapsed
from the date of receipt of the Bill
by the other House without the Bill being passed by it. A joint sitting
of both Houses is convened by the President for this purpose.560 The joint sitting is presided over by the Speaker of Lok Sabha.
The Speaker has a casting vote in the event of a tie. It is
customary for the Presiding Officer to exercise the casting
vote in such a manner as600 to maintain the status quo.
The Leader of the House is an
important parliamentary functionary and exercises direct influence on
the course of business. The whole policy of the Government,
especially insofar as it is expressed in the inner life640 of the House and
in measures dealing with the course of its business, is concentrated in
his person. The arrangement of Government business is the ultimate
responsibility of the Leader of the House. He makes proposals for the dates
of summoning and prorogation of the House for the approval of the Speaker.
He has to draw up the programme700 of official business to be transacted in a Session of
Parliament. He also fixes inter se priorities for various items of business720 to ensure smooth
passage. The Leader of the House normally occupies the first seat in the
Chamber at the right side of the Chair except in case when he is not
the Prime Minister.
In the parliamentary form of
Government, a party has its own internal organisation
inside Parliament and is served by a number of officials known as the Whips,
chosen from Members of the party itself. The main function of the Whips is to
keep Members800 of their party within sound of the Division Bell whenever any important
business is under consideration in the House. During sessions,
the Whips of different parties send to their supporters periodic
notices, also sometimes called ‘Whips’, apprising them when important Divisions
are840 expected, telling them the hour when a vote will probably take place,
and requesting them to be in attendance at that time. The Chief Whip of
the Ruling Party in the Lok Sabha is the Minister of Parliamentary
Affairs. In the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Parliamentary
Affairs holds this position. The Chief Whip is directly responsible
to the Leader of the House.
Prior to the 1977 General Elections
to the Lok Sabha, except for a brief spell of one year from December, 1969 to
December, 1970, there had been no official ‘Opposition’ in the sense the
term is used in the Parliamentary system of Government. In November 1969, for
the first time since Independence, the Lok Sabha960 had a recognised
‘Opposition party’ and a ‘Leader of the Opposition’. The Leaders of the Opposition
in the Rajya Sabha980 and the Lok Sabha are now accorded statutory recognition and given
salary and certain other facilities and amenities under the Salary and
Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977 as amended from
time to time. The Leader of the Opposition occupies a seat in the front row
left to the Chair. He also enjoys certain privileges on ceremonial occasions
like escorting the Speaker-elect to the rostrum and a seat in the front
row at the time of the Address by the President to Members of both the Houses
of Parliament.
Rule 32
of the “Rules of Procedure and1080 Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha” provides that unless
the Speaker otherwise directs, the first hour of every sitting of the House
shall be available for the asking and answering of Questions. Thus, it is taken
up from 1100 hours1120 to 1200 hours in every sitting. Normally, there
is no Question Hour during the first Session of the new Lok Sabha and also
on the day when the President addresses both the Houses assembled together or
on the day when General Budget is presented in the Lok Sabha and on the
sittings held during the extended period of session or on Saturdays,
Sundays and Holidays.
Question
is one of the important Parliamentary devices available to the Members to seek
information1200 on a matter of urgent public importance subject
to conditions imposed by the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok
Sabha and the Directions by the Speaker. A Member may ask question for the
purpose of obtaining information on a subject matter of public
importance within the special cognizance of the minister to whom it is
addressed. 1260 The maximum number of Starred Questions
to be placed on the list of Questions for oral answers on a particular1280 day is 20, while the maximum number of questions to be placed on the
list of Unstarred Question is 230. However, the number of Unstarred Questions
may exceed by a maximum of 25 Questions pertaining to States under President’s
Rule. A Member is permitted to give not more than 10 notices of Questions
both Starred and Unstarred combined for any day. But not more than five
admitted questions, both Starred and Unstarred combined, by one Member are
placed on the list of questions for any one day. Out of these 5
questions, not more than one Question distinguished by the Member with asterisk
as Starred is placed on the list of Questions for oral answer. This limit of
one question1400 for oral answer does not include any Short
Notice Question of the Member which may have been admitted for answer on
that day. However, a Member can have more than one Starred Question in
the list in the event of1440 transfer or postponement of Questions in
the printed list from one day to another. Admissibility of questions
is governed by Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha,
Directions by the Speaker as also the past precedents. The Speaker of Lok Sabha
decides whether a question or a part thereof, is or is not admissible under the
Rules, and may disallow any question, or a part thereof, when in his opinion,
it is an abuse of the right of questioning or is calculated to obstruct or prejudicially
affect the procedure of the House or is in contravention of the
Rules. The right to ask a question is governed by certain conditions like it
should be pointed, specific and confined to one issue only. It
should not contain arguments, inferences, ironical expressions,
imputations, epithets or defamatory statements. 1578
