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”.

Constitution on the Deputy Speaker

• Article 93 of the Constitution of India deals with the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, while Article 178 deals with the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of a state.

• As per Article 93, "The House of the People shall, as soon as may be, choose two members from among its members to be respectively Speaker and Deputy Speaker thereof." The article further states that the House shall choose another member to fill the vacancy if the office of Speaker or Deputy Speaker becomes vacant.

• Similarly, Article 178 states that "The Legislative Assembly of the State shall, as soon as may be, choose two members of the Assembly to be respectively Speaker and Deputy Speaker thereof."

• Constitutional experts point out that the use of the word "shall" in both Articles 93 and 178 indicates that the election of both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker is mandatory under the Constitution.

• Therefore, it is essential to have a Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assembly of a state, and the absence of a Deputy Speaker could be a violation of the constitutional provisions.

Election of Deputy Speaker

• Articles 93 and 178 mention “As soon as may be”, however, they do not lay down a specific time frame.

• Generally, both the Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies elect the Speaker on the third day of the first (typically brief) session of the new House, following the oath-taking and affirmations on the first two days.

• In the absence of actual and unavoidable impediments, the election of the Deputy Speaker often occurs in the second session and is typically not further postponed.

• The election of the Deputy Speaker "must be held on such a day as the Speaker may fix," according to Rule 8 of The Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha.

• The Deputy Speaker is elected once a motion proposing his name is carried in the House.

Removal

• The Deputy Speaker once elected 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”.

• 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.

Can the courts intervene in cases of a delay in electing the Deputy Speaker?

• The courts generally avoid interfering in the internal affairs of the legislative bodies and are hesitant to question the procedural decisions of Parliament as Article 122(1) of the Constitution provides that the validity of any proceedings in Parliament shall not be called into question on the ground of any alleged irregularity of procedure.

• However, this does not mean that the courts are completely barred from examining any issue related to the functioning of Parliament.

• Experts note that since the Constitution does provide for an election to take place "as soon as may be," the courts do have the authority to at least look into why there hasn't been one for the position of Deputy Speaker.

Power

• According to Article 95(1), the Deputy Speaker shall carry out the responsibilities of the Speaker's office while it is vacant.

• 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.

Need of Deputy Speaker

• Maintains Continuity: Deputy Speaker maintains continuity of the office whenever speaker is absent or the office becomes vacant.

• Represents The House: If Speaker resigns, he/she tenders resignation to Deputy Speaker.

• If the post of Deputy Speaker is vacant the Secretary-General receives the letter of resignation and informs the House about it. The resignation is notified in the Gazette and the Bulletin, as per the Rules for Presiding Officers of Lok Sabha.

• Strengthens the Opposition: Since 2011, convention has been to offer the position of deputy Speaker to Opposition party.

• Though Constitutionally, Deputy speaker can be from Opposition or Majority party.