Presiding officers of the Parliament

Speaker of Lok Sabha (Article – 93)

• • Originated in 1921 under the provisions of the GoI Act of 1919 (Montague-Chelmsford Reforms).
  • In 1921, Frederick Whyte and Sachidanand Sinha were appointed as the first Speaker and the first Deputy Speaker(respectively) of the Central legislative assembly.
  • In 1925, Vithalbhai J. Patel became the first Indian and the first elected Speaker of the central legislative assembly.
  • The Government of India Act, 1935 changed the nomenclatures to the Speaker and Deputy Speaker.

Money bill and role of speaker

Money bill

About:

Article 110 defines money bill as a bill containing provisions dealing with following matters:

• • The imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax.
  • The regulation of borrowing of money by the Union government
  • The custody of the Consolidated Fund of India or the contingency fund of India, the payment or withdrawal of money from any such fund
  • The appropriation of money out of the Consolidated Fund of India
  • Declaration of any expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of India or increasing the amount of any such expenditure
  • The receipt of money on account of Consolidated Fund of India or public account of India or custody or issue of such money, or audit of accounts of Union or of a state.

But it is not deemed to be a money bill by reason only that it provides for:

• • Imposition of fines or other pecuniary penalties
  • Demand for payment of fees for licenses or fees for services rendered
  • Imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax by any local authority or body for local purposes.

Role of speaker in money bill:

• • The Speaker endorses it as a money bill when a money bill is transmitted to the Rajya Sabha and presented to the President for assent.
  • Decision of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha is final, if any question arises whether a bill is a money bill or not.
  • Such decisions cannot be questioned in any court of law or in either the House of Parliament or even the president.
  • If the Speaker does not certify a bill as a Money Bill, it will be considered a Financial Bill instead.

‘Once a speaker, always a speaker’

Convention as followed in U.K.:

• • The speaker severs all ties with their political party while in office to be seen as an impartial presiding officer.
  • British speaker is elected at the beginning of parliament by and from among the members of House of Commons.
  • If the speaker of outgoing Parliament is still a member of the house and is willing to be re- elected, he can do so. Usually, he is re-elected as many times as he wants.
  • Even after leaving office, the speaker normally takes no part in party politics. If elevated to the House of Lords, they would normally sit as a crossbencher.

In India, we cannot follow this convention as it is. Already, Speaker in India Parliament enjoy many such powers to function in independent manner. Speaker need to follow the convention established by reputed personalities in that position in the past such as G.V. Mavlankar (Father of the Lok Sabha).

Implications:

• • Apolitical Speaker
  • An impartial speaker making Lok Sabha a truly representative body.
  • Role model effect
  • Strengthening democratic norms
  • Continuity of expertise as institutional memory