The presiding officer of Loksabha is the Speaker who is elected from among the members along with the Deputy Speaker and stays in office till the life of the House i.e., 5 years. His primary task is to protect the dignity and decorum of the House and to see that the proceed-ings of the House are conducted in an orderly and a focused manner. He is the principal spokesperson of the House and must be impartial and even-handed in dealing as the custo-dian of the House.
In order to ensure impartiality, speaker resigns his party membership on election. The Deputy speaker discharges the duty when the office of the speaker falls vacant due to resignation, ***** or removal by a 2/3 majority of the total membership of the House or in the absence of the speaker. Salary of the speaker is determined by parliament from time to time.
The Speakers’ position in the House is one of dignity and authority:
- All orders of the house are **** through the Speaker
- Communication from the President is made known through the Speaker.
- It is the power of the speaker to declare whether a bill is Money bill or not.
- He enjoys the authority of interpreting the Rules of procedure and has the power to vote except in case of a tie.
- No member can speak in the House without the permission of the speaker and it is the speaker who fixes the time limit for speech.
- He presides over the ***** sittings of the parliament.
- During discussions, the members must address the Chair.
- In case of a tie, speaker has the right to cast a vote.
- Speaker’* decisions cannot be questioned in court of law.
