With regard to Panel of Chairperson, Lok Sabha, which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. Panel of Chairperson is drawn from the ruling party only 2. Panel of Chairperson is nominated by different political parties and appointed by Speaker, Lok Sabha 3. Panel of Chairperson consists of 10 members and one of them presides over the House when both Speaker and Deputy Speaker are not there Select the correct answer using the code given below:

Correct — B, 2 and 3. Statement 1 fails at once: the panel is not drawn from the ruling party alone. It is nominated from among the members of the House by the Speaker, and the practice is to include members from different parties, which is what statement 2 records — a panel put together across the parties and given effect by the Speaker's nomination. Statement 3 gives the panel's size as ten and describes its function correctly: a member of the panel presides only when both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker are absent, and only then. He has the same powers as the Speaker while in the Chair, but he cannot exercise them once either of the two returns. Taking statements 2 and 3 and rejecting 1 gives option (b).

• (a)1 and 3 — It accepts statement 1. A panel confined to the ruling party would defeat its own purpose, which is to keep an impartial Chair available; members are drawn from across the House.
• (c)3 only — It rejects statement 2, but the Speaker's nomination is the whole legal basis on which the panel exists. Dropping it leaves the panel with no source of authority.
• (d)2 only — It rejects statement 3, which is accurate on both counts — the size of the panel and the fact that a panel member presides only in the absence of both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker.

The Lok Sabha has a three-tier arrangement for presiding. The Speaker takes the Chair; in his absence the Deputy Speaker does; and when neither is present a member of the Panel of Chairpersons, nominated by the Speaker under the Rules of Procedure, presides. A panel member in the Chair exercises the Speaker's powers for the sitting, and steps down the moment the Speaker or Deputy Speaker enters. If none of the three is available the House itself chooses a member to preside.

Statement 1 is the one the item is really testing, and it fails on principle rather than on a recalled number: the point of the panel is to spread the Chair across the House, not to concentrate it. On statement 3 it is worth being precise about what the Rules say — they empower the Speaker to nominate a panel of up to ten chairpersons, so ten is a ceiling that is normally filled rather than a fixed constitutional figure, and the official key treats the statement as correct on that basis. The number has been revised upward over the years, so an older textbook may print a smaller one.

• The Panel of Chairpersons is nominated by the Speaker from among the members of the Lok Sabha under its Rules of Procedure.
• A member of the panel presides only when both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker are absent from a sitting.
• While in the Chair a panel member has the same powers as the Speaker, and vacates it as soon as either senior officer arrives.
• The Rules set the panel's strength at up to ten chairpersons, a figure that has been raised over time.
• If the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker and every panel member are absent, the House itself determines who shall preside.

• Assuming any body nominated by the Speaker must be drawn from the Speaker's own party.
• Believing a panel chairperson can preside when the Deputy Speaker is present.
• Carrying an older figure for the panel's strength from a dated textbook.

Asked as a three-statement item where one statement fails on principle rather than on recall — the giveaway is the phrase 'ruling party only'.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  A member of the Panel of Chairpersons of the Lok Sabha may preside over a sitting when

  • (a)the Speaker alone is absent
  • (b)both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker are absent
  • (c)the Speaker so directs, even if present
  • (d)the House is considering a money bill

  Answer(b) both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker are absent — the panel is the third tier of the presiding arrangement.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The corresponding body in the Rajya Sabha, from which a member presides in the absence of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman, is called the

  • (a)Panel of Chairpersons
  • (b)Panel of Vice-Chairpersons
  • (c)Business Advisory Committee
  • (d)Committee on Rules

  Answer(b) Panel of Vice-Chairpersons — nominated by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.