Editorial 1. The missing Deputy Speaker: the post, and what the Constitution says
Recent Context:
- Recently, The Supreme Court issued notices to the Centre and five states Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand ;over the failure to elect a Deputy Speaker.
- A Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud sought responses on a PIL that contends that not electing a Deputy Speaker to the 17th (present) Lok Sabha, which was constituted on June 19, 2019, is “against the letter and spirit of the Constitution”.
What does the Constitution say about the Deputy Speaker?
- Article 93 says “The House of the People shall, as soon as may be, choose two members…to be…Speaker and Deputy Speaker…and, so often as the office of Speaker or Deputy Speaker becomes vacant, the House shall choose another member…”
Is it mandatory to have a Deputy Speaker?
- Constitutional experts point out that both Articles 93 and 178 use the word “shall”, indicating that the election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker is mandatory under the Constitution.
How soon must the Deputy Speaker be elected?
- “As soon as may be”, say Articles 93 and 178. But they do not lay down a specific time frame.
- In general, the practice in both Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies has been to elect the Speaker during the (mostly short) first session of the new House usually on the third day after the oath-taking and affirmations over the first two days.
- The election of the Deputy Speaker usually takes place in the second session and is generally not delayed further in the absence of genuine and unavoidable constraints.
- Rule 8 of The Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha says the election of Deputy Speaker “shall be held on such date as the Speaker may fix”. The Deputy Speaker is elected once a motion proposing his name is carried in the House.
- Once elected, the Deputy Speaker usually continues in office for the entire duration of the House. Under Article 94 (Article 179 for state legislatures), the Speaker or Deputy Speaker “shall vacate his office if he ceases to be a member of the House…”.
- They may also resign to each other, or “may be removed from…office by a resolution of the House of the People passed by a majority of all the then members of the House”.
How was the post of Deputy Speaker envisaged?
- On May 19, 1941, H V Kamath argued in the Constituent Assembly that if the Speaker resigns, “it will be far better if he addresses his resignation to the President and not to the Deputy Speaker, because the Deputy Speaker holds an office subordinate to him”.
- Dr B R Ambedkar disagreed — and pointed out that a person normally tenders his resignation to the person who has appointed him. “…The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker are…appointed or chosen or elected by the House.
- Consequently, these two people, if they want to resign, must tender their resignations to the House which is the appointing authority.
- Of course, the House being a collective body of people, a resignation could not be addressed to each member of the House separately. Consequently, the provision is made that the resignation should be addressed either to the Speaker or to the Deputy Speaker, because it is they who represent the House,”
- When Neelam Sanjiva Reddy resigned as Speaker of the 4th Lok Sabha on July 19, 1969, he addressed his resignation to the Deputy Speaker.
- But what happens if the post of Deputy Speaker is vacant?
- “The House is informed of the resignation of the Speaker by the Deputy Speaker and if the office of the Deputy Speaker is vacant, by the Secretary-General who receives the letter of resignation in that House. The resignation is notified in the Gazette and the Bulletin,” say the Rules for Presiding Officers of Lok Sabha.
Do the powers of the Speaker extend to the Deputy Speaker as well?
- Article 95(1) says: “While the office of Speaker is vacant, the duties of the office shall be performed by the Deputy Speaker”.
- In general, the Deputy Speaker has the same powers as the Speaker when presiding over a sitting of the House. All references to the Speaker in the Rules are deemed to be references to the Deputy Speaker when he presides.
- It has been repeatedly held that no appeal lies to the Speaker against a ruling given by the Deputy Speaker or any person presiding over the House in the absence of the Speaker.
What is the position of the Union government on the current vacancy in the post of Deputy Speaker?
- The Treasury benches have maintained there is no “immediate requirement” for a Deputy Speaker as “bills are being passed and discussions are being held” as normal in the House.
- Minister argued that “there is a panel of nine members — senior, experienced, and selected from different parties — who can act as chairpersons to assist the Speaker to run the House”.
- This panel of nine has Rama Devi, Kirit P Solanki, and Rajendra Agrawal of the BJP; Kodikunnil Suresh of the Congress; A Raja of the DMK; P V Midhun Reddy (YSRCP); Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD); N K Premachandran (RSP); and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar (TMC).
- It has been usual practice to offer the post of Deputy Speaker to the Opposition — Charanjit Singh Atwal (SAD, then a constituent of NDA) was Deputy Speaker during 2004-09 when UPA-I was in power, Kariya Munda (BJP) occupied the post during 2009-14 (UPA-2), and M Thambidurai (AIADMK) was Deputy Speaker during the first Narendra Modi government (2014-19).
Can the courts intervene in cases of a delay in electing the Deputy Speaker?
- In September 2021, a petition was filed before the Delhi High Court, which argued that delay in the election of the Deputy Speaker violated Article 93 (Pawan Reley v. Speaker, Lok Sabha & Ors). However, there is no precedent of a court forcing the legislature to elect the Deputy Speaker.
- Courts usually don’t intervene in the procedural conduct of Parliament. Article 122(1) says: “The validity of any proceedings in Parliament shall not be called in question on the ground of any alleged irregularity of procedure.”
- However, experts said that the courts do have jurisdiction to at least inquire into why there has been no election to the post of Deputy Speaker since the Constitution does envisage an election “as soon as may be”.
Editorial 2. Green Transition enabler
Context:
- Energy transitions are central to the G20 agenda.
- In 2023, during India’s presidency, the geopolitics and governance of energy have become immensely challenging, as the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy, concerns about energy security and
- in many cases, the pressure on keeping financial commitments made related to tackling climate change have become complicated.
‘Energy Poverty’ is a major concern in certain parts of the world :
- The International Energy Agency counts 20 million more people worldwide without electricity now compared to 2021. Predictably, the worst-affected are in sub-Saharan Africa, which is back to its lowest rate of electrification since 2013.
- In Europe, the number of people experiencing inadequate energy supply has risen to 80 million from 34 million in 2021.
- Even middle-income countries in Africa, South America and Asia face fuel and electricity shortages and high levels of inflation.
- Reduced availability of energy is hurting economies as industries close, and is impacting public health as safe fuels such as cooking gas become expensive.
- A number of countries also face a balance of payments crisis, partly driven by high energy costs. “Energy poverty” is global and widespread, impacting technology implementation, industry and sustainable development goals — all of which are also G20 goals.
Availability of energy in the form of easy Accessibility, Security and affability to address energy related challenges
- An independent task force initiated by Gateway House in October 2022 seeks urgently to find ways to provide energy access, security and affordability.
- This requires resolving the conflicts between short-and long-term energy targets, addressing energy disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and using creative financing to accelerate the development and adaptation of renewable technologies and new business models utilising these technologies.
- The G20 has a key role to play in advancing solutions.
Three particularly significant recommendations, which can provide immediate runs on the board for India’s G20 presidency are
- The G20 should focus on providing financial support for those most in need as a cornerstone of climate action and energy transition in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
- Change Protocol and as reinforced and enshrined in the Paris Agreement and successive COPs. This is a natural role for the G20 to play given the involvement of leading economies in it and its convening power.
- While financial support to developing countries has been increasing, it is nowhere near what will be required for a successful transition. The G20 can galvanise the pursuit of this agenda.
- Public financing alone will not be enough for dealing with current energy challenges. Private finance is needed along with public finance.
- That means continued work is needed to align global financial flows with the Paris Agreement goals.
- Innovative approaches are needed to climate financing, such as blending finance with public and private capital so they work together, and key impediments like exchange rate risk for financing projects must be addressed.
- The G20 has a critical role to play in strengthening this global agenda, including by a continued step change on climate financing by multilateral banks.
- A possible game-changer could be the creation of a Global Climate Finance Agency to better integrate and drive this global agenda, including at very practical levels.
- The agency could be mandated to lower hedging costs to mitigate a key risk faced by developers of green projects and to insure major clean energy projects from potential losses due to problems such as the failure of government utilities to meet supply and payment obligations a persistent issue in developing countries, including India.
- Harness the significant power of the public procurement system to accelerate energy transition:
- There is abundant evidence that, done well, this can be a major driver of change, for instance, by ensuring funding and adaptation at scale.
- At the same time, the use of public procurement to drive such changes can help prevent the winner-takes-all effect that new technologies often create.
- Public procurement has a key role to play in accelerating the rollout of critical new technologies such as green hydrogen, electric vehicle transport systems connected to renewable power systems and small modular nuclear reactors, where the G20 can provide global impetus and inspiration.
Conclusion
- Ultimately, these proposals will mean new business models and new technologies for energy transitions new tracks for new trains.
- Financial centres of the G20 countries and their significant business communities, like Mumbai, have a critical role to play in creating this new economy.
- The G20 should encourage cooperation and collaboration between these centres, including through green financing and economy taxonomies as per the above recommendations, to accelerate climate transition and energy security for all.