Speaker is the presiding officer
of the house. There is a deputy speaker too and a panel of
10 chairpersons for
the Lok Sabha nominated by the speaker from amongst Lok
Sabha MP’s to preside
if both are absent.
When even these panelists are absent, any
member of the
house, as determined by the house acts as the presiding
officer.
The panel can’t preside over the house when the office of speaker or deputy speaker is vacant; in such cases the president decides who shall preside over the house from amongst its members.
2. he is the final interpreter regarding the constitution, rules of procedures and parliamentary conventions
3. in absence of quorum he can adjourn or suspend the house meeting
4. he can vote only in case of tie to resolve deadlocks
5. He decides and certifies whether a bill is a money bill. such a certification is final
6. he decides matters of disqualification of MP under tenth schedule but his judgment is subject to judicial review
7. He appoints and supervises chairmen of various house committees. He is the chairman of some house committees.
8. He is the chairman of parliamentary forums. he also is the ex-officio chairman of conference of presiding officers of various legislative bodies of country
9. He presides over joint sitting of parliament convened to resolve deadlocks between two houses. He can also convene a secret sitting of a house where none can be present in house galleries without speaker’s permission.
10. His behavior in house can’t be discussed except on a substantive motion. His decision in maintaining order and decorum can be questioned in any court.
11. His salaries and allowances are charged on the consolidated fund of India.
He too is elected by the house
after the speaker on a day decided by speaker. His terms
of office and grounds
for removal and procedure for removal, provision for
salary and allowances are
same as speaker. He resigns by writing to the speaker.
When he is the presiding officer
of the house in absence of speaker he has same powers as
the speaker. He isn’t
subordinate to the speaker but directly responsible to
the house.
Whenever the speaker is present the deputy speaker becomes an ordinary member of the house. However if he is a member of a parliamentary committee then he automatically becomes the chairman of the committee. Both the speaker and the deputy speaker don’t take any oath for office.
The Government of India Act, 1919 created the institutions of speaker and deputy. Sachinanand Sinha was the first deputy speaker of the central legislative assembly. Vithalbhai Patel was the first Indian speaker of the central legislative assembly. G.V. Malvankar was the speaker of the first Lok Sabha and also speaker of the constituent assembly [legislative].
The speaker of the previous Lok Sabha
resigns just before the first sitting of the new Lok
Sabha.
Hence to preside
over the temporary Lok Sabha the president selects a
member [by convention the
senior most] to preside over the first session. The
oath of speaker pro tem is
administered by the president himself.
The speaker pro tem enables in election of new speaker. He also administers oath to the members of the house.
The vice president is the
ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha and its presiding
officer.
He isn’t a
member of the Rajya Sabha unlike the speaker.
He has the same powers and
functions as the speaker of the Lok Sabha. He can be
removed from his position
only when he is removed from the post of vice president.
This needs a majority
of total membership of the house.
The chairman nominates from amongst members
of Rajya Sabha a panel of chairpersons who preside over
the house when both
chairman and vice chairman are absent.
If even all the panel members are absent
then any person chosen by the house presides over it.
If there is a vacancy in
the office of chairman or vice chairman the panel
members can preside over the
house. In this case the president shall nominate a
person suitable to preside
till the new chairman is elected.
He can’t vote on house bills but
only in case of equality of votes.
When a resolution considering his removal is being considered he isn’t the presiding officer and he can’t vote even in the first instance. He nominates members of Rajya Sabha to various house committees. His salary and allowances are charged on the consolidated fund of India and not subject to vote.
Rajya Sabha nominates from
amongst its members a vice chairman. He presides over the
house in case the
chairman is absent or office is vacant or vice president
has to act as the
president. In all cases he has same powers and duties as
the chairman.
He isn’t
subordinate to the chairman but is directly responsible to
the house. When
chairman is present he acts as any other member.
He can be removed by total
majority of the membership of the house, or by
resigning in writing to the
chairman or when he ceases to be a member of the
Rajya Sabha.
Leader of the house is the prime
minister in the Lok Sabha if he is a member of Lok Sabha
or a minister
nominated by him. Similarly there is a leader of house in
the Rajya Sabha too
who is nominated by the PM.
Leader of opposition is the
leader of the largest party in the house but should have
atleast one tenth
seats of the total strength of the house.
Sessions of the parliament are
called by the president by summoning each house. The
maximum time period
between two sessions is six months hence parliament
sessions have to be two in
a year.
There are 3 sessions of parliament in India
viz. budget, monsoon and
winter.
The speaker of the house adjourns sessions
i.e. the sitting is
terminated but not the session.
Adjournment sine die means adjourning without
deciding a day of reassembly or indefinitely adjourning,
this too can be done
by the presiding officer. However only the president
terminates the session
i.e. prorogation.
This is done after the presiding officer
adjourns sine die.
Dissolution is done by the president only and it ends the
life of the Lok Sabha
and new elections have to be held. This dissolution is
irrevocable.
Whenever a Lok Sabha dissolves the bills that
are pending before it [transmitted to it by RS or
originating before it] lapse,
also all bills passed by the Lok Sabha but not approved by
RS also lapse.
However bills originating in the RS and not
yet passed by it or not yet
transmitted to LS don’t lapse; also bills passed by both
houses waiting president’s
assent don’t lapse.
Bills send by president for reconsideration
don’t lapse.
Bills held due to deadlock and president have
notified a joint sitting on them
before the LS was dissolved also don’t lapse.
Ministers of the central government or attorney general are allowed to take part in the proceedings of the house. But the ministers can’t vote in house to which they don’t belong as members.
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