A member giving notice of a resolution for removal of Speaker, Lok Sabha should be addressed to the

Correct — B, Secretary General, Lok Sabha. Removing the Speaker is entirely an affair of the House. Article 94 provides that the Speaker may be removed by a resolution of the House of the People passed by a majority of all the then members, and that no such resolution may be moved unless at least fourteen days' notice has been given of the intention to move it. That notice is a communication to the House, and every communication to the House is addressed to the Secretary-General, who heads the Lok Sabha Secretariat and is the officer through whom notices of motions, resolutions and questions are received and circulated. The President, the Prime Minister and the Deputy Speaker have no part in receiving it.

• (a)Deputy Speaker, Lok Sabha — The Deputy Speaker has a role later, not here: he presides while a resolution for the Speaker's removal is under consideration, since the Speaker cannot preside over a motion against himself. The notice itself goes to the Secretariat.
• (c)Prime Minister — The executive has no role in the removal of a presiding officer. Routing the notice through the head of government would defeat the independence the office is designed to have.
• (d)President — The President appoints no Speaker and removes none. The Speaker is elected by the House from among its own members and removed by the House, and Article 94 gives the President no function in the process.

The Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha is the permanent head of its Secretariat, appointed by the Speaker, and holds a rank equivalent to that of the Cabinet Secretary. The office is the House's administrative channel: notices, questions, motions and resolutions reach the House through it, records and bulletins are issued from it, and it advises the Speaker on procedure. It is answerable to the Speaker alone and not to the government, which is what makes it the right address for a notice against the Speaker.

The item is testing whether a candidate understands that the Speakership is internal to the House. Once that principle is fixed, the President and the Prime Minister fall away at once as executive officers with no locus, and the choice narrows to the Deputy Speaker and the Secretary-General. Separating those two is a matter of separating the procedural stages: the Secretary-General receives the notice, and the Deputy Speaker presides when the resolution is taken up. Note that the store tags this question Defence and Security, which is plainly wrong — it is a polity item.

• Article 94 allows removal of the Speaker by a resolution passed by a majority of all the then members of the House.
• At least fourteen days' notice of the intention to move such a resolution is mandatory.
• Notices of motions and resolutions in the Lok Sabha are addressed to the Secretary-General.
• The Secretary-General is appointed by the Speaker, heads the Lok Sabha Secretariat and ranks with the Cabinet Secretary.
• The Speaker does not preside while a resolution for his own removal is being considered, though he may speak and vote in the proceedings.

• Sending the notice to the Deputy Speaker, who presides at the later stage but does not receive it.
• Assuming the President or the executive has any role in removing a presiding officer.
• Confusing the fourteen-day notice for removal with the notice periods for other motions.

Asked as a procedural recall with two executive offices and one parliamentary office as distractors; recognising that the process is internal to the House removes half the list.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  While a resolution for the removal of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha is under consideration, who presides over the House?

  • (a)The Speaker
  • (b)The Deputy Speaker
  • (c)The Prime Minister
  • (d)The Leader of the Opposition

  Answer(b) The Deputy Speaker — the Speaker may speak and take part in the proceedings but does not preside.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha is appointed by

  • (a)the President
  • (b)the Prime Minister
  • (c)the Speaker of the Lok Sabha
  • (d)the Union Public Service Commission

  Answer(c) the Speaker of the Lok Sabha — the office is answerable to the Speaker and not to the government.