Answer:

The office of the Speaker occupies a pivotal position in our parliamentary democracy. The Speaker is looked upon as the true guardian of the traditions of parliamentary democracy. The crucial position of speaker can be understood from the following points:

♤ The Speaker of the Lok Sabha conducts the business in house; and decides whether a bill is a money bill or not.

♤ They maintain discipline and decorum in the house and can punish a member for their unruly behaviour by suspending them.

♤ They also permit the moving of various kinds of motions and resolutions such as a motion of no confidence, motion of adjournment, motion of censure and calling attention notice as per the rules.

♤ The power to disqualify an MP or MLA under anti-defection law lies with thwe presiding officer of houses and assemblies.

In view of these, there are many safeguards in the Constitution such as security of tenure, salaries charged on Consolidated Fund of India, discussing their conduct only on substantive motion etc. to protect the office of Speaker from undue political pressure.

Though the Constitution envisages the Speaker as a neutral position but there have been numerous instances in our polity where the action of Speaker has raised concerns.

For example:

♤ Sixteen MLAs from the ruling party in the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly and nine MLAs in Uttarakhand Assembly were disqualified by the Speaker, in 2016 despite not officially leaving the party or defying its directives, etc.

♤ Controversies regarding declaration of Aadhar Bill, 2016 as money bill by the speaker.

Thus, more steps are required in addition to the existing safeguards. For instance:

♤ Power to decide upon the question of disqualification can be entrusted to Election Commission of India.

♤ After getting elected as Speaker, he/she must resign from the party membership as practiced in matured democracies like UK. Also, his constituency should go uncontested in the next general election.

♤ Democratic conventions must be evolved through political consensus in order to ensure non-partisan actions by speaker.