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Mar 11, 2022
5 things you didn’t know about the Presiding Officers of Parliament
The Rajya Sabha has suspended eight Members of Parliament till the remaining Monsoon session for their unparliamentary behaviour. The members include the Trinamool Congress’ Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen, AAP’s Sanjay Singh, Congress members Rajeev Satav, Syed Naseer Hussain and Ripun Bora, and CPI(M) members K.K. Ragesh and Elamaram Kareem.
Who presides over the Houses of Parliament?
Our Parliament consists of the President and two Houses – the House of the People (Lok Sabha) and the Council of States (Rajya Sabha). The Speaker is the Presiding Officer of the Lok Sabha. The Vice-President of India is the Chairman and Presiding Officer of the Rajya Sabha.
The Presiding Officers of the two Houses are given vast powers by the Rules that regulate the procedure and conduct of business in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Power to decide admissibility of questions
The Presiding Officer guides the proceedings during Question Hour in Parliament. The Officer has the power to decide whether a question is admissible or not, and may disallow any question. The Officer will disallow the question if he feels that it is an abuse of the right of questioning, or if the question obstructs the procedure of the House, or if it is against the rules of the House.
Power regarding amendment of Bills
If a Bill is pending before the House, it is the Presiding Officer who decides whether he should allow amendments to be moved to various clauses of the Bill. So, the permission of the Officer is required in order to move an amendment to a Bill. When amendments to a Bill are being considered, the Officer puts the amendments before the House in a convenient order for discussing the amendments.
Power to regulate discussions
It is the Presiding Officer who decides when a Member of Parliament should speak, and how long the Member shall speak. The Officer can even ask the Member to discontinue his/her speech if the Member continuously puts forth irrelevant or repetitive arguments. If the Officer believes that the statements made by a Member are indecent, unparliamentary or undignified, the Officer can order such statements/words to be erased and not be recorded as part of the proceedings.
Power over Members of Parliament
If the Presiding Officer thinks that the conduct of any Member is extremely disorderly, he can direct the Member to immediately withdraw from the House. The Member will have to withdraw and remain absent from the House for the remainder of the day.
The Officer can name any Member who disregards the Officer’s authority, or abuses the rules of the House by continuously and intentionally obstructing the proceedings. This results in a motion being put before the House to suspend such a Member. The Member can be suspended if the motion is passed by the House. The suspension can last till the end of the session of Parliament.
In case of serious disorder arising in the House, the Officer can adjourn or suspend a sitting of the House if he believes that this is necessary.