‘Once a Speaker, always a Speaker!’ Do you think this practice should be adopted to impart objectivity to the office of the Speaker of Lok Sabha? What could be its implications for the robust functioning of parliamentary business in India?
Speaker represents the full authority of the house and is solely responsible for parliamentary proceedings. This itself represents the neutrality /independence of the Speaker to impart objectivity in Lok Sabha.
The reasons for following the Practice of Once a Speaker, always a Speaker. In recent times the office of speaker is criticised because:
1. Labelling the ordinary bills as money bills (e.g.: Aadhar Act).
2. The Speaker has been accused of not permitting the session of Lok Sabha to be conducted virtually.
3. The absoluteness of the Speaker’s decisions in the Defection case is an incentive for potential abuse.
4. In 16th Lok Sabha, Speaker invoked the Rules 193 to suspend members of the Main Opposition party for five days, however when the ruling party prevented any transaction of business in the second half of the session, Speaker merely adjourned the house on a daily basis.
5. Increased disruptions: Frequent disruptions reduce the time required for important discussions and compel speakers to allocate less time for discussion. This often questions the impartiality of the speaker as he allegedly provides more to the ruling party.
Implications:
- More deliberation and discussion in the house.
- Voices of opposition will be heard.
- Process and procedures will be fulfilled.
- Democratisation of society.
Recommendations of V.S Page Committee:
1. Any Speaker should be barred from future political office, except for the post of President, while being given a pension for life.
2. Like in the UK, the Speaker should resign from the party once elected to the post of speaker.
The Speaker is considered as the true guardian of the Indian Parliamentary democracy, holding the complete authority of the Lok Sabha. Thus, impartiality of the office is very important to make parliamentary democracy work in true sense.
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