Speaker’s Power to Be Tied Down

After winning the Lok Sabha or the Legislative Assembly as a candidate of one party, if someone joins another party, the Speaker decides the dismissal of his MP or MLA post. In this case, as there is no consensus on tying the power of the speaker, this time the decision is being considered. This will be discussed at a conference of the Speakers of the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies in August.

Although Mukul Roy joined the Trinamool party after winning the BJP ticket, West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay recently said that Mukul is a BJP MLA. Although the BJP had petitioned the Speaker to dismiss Mukul’s membership, it was alleged that the Speaker did not want to take any decision at first. Later, the BJP approached the Kolkata High Court. approached the Supreme Court asking the High Court asked the Speaker to take a decision within the stipulated time and then the speaker approached the Supreme Court. The apex court did not set a deadline but asked for a speedy decision.

Allegations against speakers in different states

Speaker's Power
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Not just West Bengal. Allegations of abuse of speaker’s power are being made in several states. Allegedly, the speaker has not been taking any decision on this for a long time. Even in the Lok Sabha, the decision was not taken long after the Trinamool party’s petition for dismissal of Shishir Adhikari and such. In this regard, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla said, “There has been a hearing in the Lok Sabha on the basis of the petition of the Trinamool party. But in a meeting in last November of speakers, everyone uniformly agreed that in this regard, the power of the speaker should be lessened. A committee headed by Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi was formed. But there is no consensus on where the power of the Speaker is and how much it needs to be curtailed.” Anyone can go to court against the Speaker’s decision. The court can examine whether the Speaker has taken the right decision in accordance with the Constitution. But it is not clear whether the court can intervene if the speaker sits without a decision.

Birla’s comments

On Sunday, Om Birla completed three years as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Earlier in the day, Birla told reporters that “there is a proposal to set a time limit for decision-making as there is no consensus on the Speaker’s power cut. So that no Speaker can spend five years without a decision. This will be discussed at the Speakers’ Conference in August.”

In the last three years, besides thinking about the power of the speakers, Om Birla has tried to speed up the work of the Lok Sabha and give a chance to the MPs to raise the issues of their constituency more in the zero hour. He has saved almost 69 crore in three years by reducing the cost of paper and accessories by using information technology.