CDS (I) 2022 General Knowledge · Question 90 of 120

Correct — B, He may, at any time, resign by writing his resignation to the President of India. The Speaker of the Lok Sabha does not resign to the President. Article 94(b) provides that a member holding the office of Speaker or Deputy Speaker may at any time resign by writing under his hand addressed — if the member is the Speaker, to the Deputy Speaker, and if the member is the Deputy Speaker, to the Speaker. The two presiding officers resign to each other, which keeps the office of the House within the House and out of the executive's hands. The other three options are Articles 94 and 95 restated almost verbatim: vacating on ceasing to be a member is 94(a), removal by a resolution passed by a majority of all the then members of the House is 94(c), and the Deputy Speaker performing the duties while the office of Speaker is vacant is Article 95(1). Only the resignation route has been altered, and one word of it — President in place of Deputy Speaker — is the whole question.

• (a)He shall vacate his office if he ceases to be a member of the House of the People. — Correct, and a direct quotation of Article 94(a): a member holding the office shall vacate it if he ceases to be a member of the House of the People.
• (c)He may be removed from his office by a resolution of the House of the People passed by majority of all the then members of the House. — Correct as well. Article 94(c) allows removal by a resolution of the House of the People passed by a majority of all the then members, and the proviso requires fourteen days' notice of the intention to move such a resolution.
• (d)While the office of the Speaker is vacant, the duties of the office shall be performed by the Deputy Speaker. — Correct. Article 95(1) says that while the office of Speaker is vacant, the duties of the office shall be performed by the Deputy Speaker, or if that office is also vacant, by such member as the President may appoint.

Articles 93 to 96 make up the constitutional code for the presiding officers of the Lok Sabha. Article 93 requires the House to choose two of its members as Speaker and Deputy Speaker; Article 94 governs vacation, resignation and removal; Article 95 provides for who performs the duties when the office is vacant or the Speaker is absent; and Article 96 bars the Speaker from presiding while a resolution for his own removal is under consideration, though he may speak and vote in the House on it as an ordinary member. Article 100(1) gives the Speaker no ordinary vote — only a casting vote in the case of an equality of votes.

This is a substitution item, and the substitution is chosen because it feels plausible: constitutional offices generally do resign to the President, and the Vice-President indeed does under Article 67(a). The Speaker is a deliberate exception, and the reason is the independence of the legislature — the presiding officer of the House owes his office to the House and answers to it, not to the head of state. Two comparisons make the rule stick. In the Rajya Sabha the Deputy Chairman resigns to the Chairman under Article 90; and Article 94 also carries the rule that a Speaker does not vacate office on a dissolution but continues until immediately before the first sitting of the next House. Sorting the four options is easiest by asking, for each, who the addressee or the actor is: House, House, Deputy Speaker — and one that says President.

• Article 94(b): the Speaker resigns by writing addressed to the Deputy Speaker, and the Deputy Speaker resigns to the Speaker.
• Article 94(a): the office is vacated on ceasing to be a member of the House of the People.
• Article 94(c): removal is by a resolution of the House passed by a majority of all the then members, with fourteen days' notice required by the proviso.
• Article 95(1): while the office of Speaker is vacant, the Deputy Speaker performs its duties.
• Article 96 bars the Speaker from presiding while a resolution for his removal is under consideration, and Article 100(1) gives him only a casting vote.

• Assuming the Speaker resigns to the President; the letter goes to the Deputy Speaker.
• Reading the removal majority as a simple majority of those present; Article 94(c) requires a majority of all the then members of the House.
• Thinking the Speaker vacates office when the Lok Sabha is dissolved; he continues until immediately before the first meeting of the next House.

As a not-correct statement item with one addressee or one majority altered, or as a direct question on to whom the Speaker addresses his resignation.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha addresses his resignation to

  • (a)the President of India
  • (b)the Speaker of the Lok Sabha
  • (c)the Prime Minister
  • (d)the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha

  Answer(b) the Speaker of the Lok Sabha — Article 94(b) has the two presiding officers resign to each other.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  A resolution for the removal of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha requires

  • (a)a simple majority of the members present and voting
  • (b)a majority of all the then members of the House
  • (c)a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting
  • (d)the prior consent of the President

  Answer(b) a majority of all the then members of the House — Article 94(c), with fourteen days' notice under the proviso.