Oppn submits notice against LS speaker

Opposition parties on Tuesday submitted a notice for moving a resolution to remove Om Birla from the office of Lok Sabha speaker, alleging that he had acted in a “blatantly partisan” manner in conducting the business of the House and “abused” the constitutional office he occupies.
The Opposition also accused the Speaker of making certain false allegations against members of the Congress. Congress’ deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, chief whip K Suresh and whip Mohamed Jawed submitted the notice under Article 94 C of the Constitution to Lok Sabha Secretary General Utpal Kumar Singh on behalf of several opposition parties, including the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the DMK.
Sources said the notice was signed by around 120 MPs of the Opposition, including those of the Congress, DMK, Samajwadi Party, Left parties and RJD. Shiv Sena UBT and NCP-SP have also signed the notice.
TMC is not a signatory to the notice. Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has also not signed the notice, sources said.
Speaker Om Birla will not preside over Lok Sabha proceedings till the issue pertaining to his removal from the office is settled citing moral grounds, sources said on Tuesday. Separately, Article 96 of the Constitution bars a speaker or a deputy speaker to preside the House sitting while a resolution for his removal from office is under consideration.
Birla has a constitutional right to defend himself in the House if the resolution is discussed in the Lok Sabha.
He has, meanwhile, directed Lok Sabha Secretary General Utpal Kumar Singh to examine the notice served by the opposition for moving a resolution to remove him from office, the sources said.
While there have been attempts in the past to remove the Speaker, none have been successful.
At least two Lok Sabha members have to sign the notice to move a resolution for the Speaker’s removal. Any number of members can sign the notice, but a minimum of two is mandatory.
The Speaker can be removed from office by a resolution passed by the House through a simple majority. Article 94C of the Constitution has provisions for such a move.
“All the members of the House are counted to compute the majority, not the members present and voting, which is the normal practice. It means the effective membership of the House, except the vacancies, is used to calculate the majority,” former Lok Sabha secretary general P D T Achary told PTI.
The notice has to be submitted to the Lok Sabha secretary general, and not the deputy speaker or anyone else, he said.
The document is then examined at the preliminary stage to see whether it contains “very specific charges”, he said.
“At the threshold itself, there is a process of admissibility. At that stage, it is seen whether it contains specific charges. Specific charges are required as only then the Speaker will be able to respond,” Achary explained. The resolution must not contain defamatory language or content.
Article 96 gives the Speaker the opportunity to defend himself or herself in the House.
The language of the proposed resolution is usually examined by the deputy speaker, but since the present Lok Sabha does not have a deputy speaker, it may be examined perhaps by the senior-most member of the panel of chairpersons. The panel helps the Speaker run the House in his or her absence.
“The Speaker examining a resolution that seeks his removal looks absurd,” Achary said, adding that the rule is silent on the subject.
Once the processing part is over, the resolution reaches the House. But it can go to the House after 14 days, Achary said.
The Speaker then places it in the House for consideration. It is actually the House which admits it, or as the rule says, “grant permission”.
Achary further said, “The Speaker then asks members in favour of the resolution to stand up. If 50 members stand up in support of it, if the criteria is fulfilled, the Speaker announces that the House has granted permission. Once the House grants permission, it has to be taken up for discussion and disposed of within 10 days.”
There are precedents of resolutions being moved. However, none has been adopted so far. “The reason: governments have a majority,” Achary said.