Who among the following performed the roles of Speaker and Pro-tem Speaker of the Uttarakhand State Assembly more than once?
- (a)Harbans Kapoor
- (b)Govind Singh
- (c)Ajay Bhatt
- (d)Prakash Pant
Correct — A, Harbans Kapoor.
Harbans Kapoor of the BJP represented Dehradun Cantonment across successive terms. The pro-tem chair goes by convention to a senior member, and that long run put him in it in 2002, again in 2007 and again in 2017.
He also held the Speaker's chair in his own right, presiding over the second Uttarakhand Assembly from 12 March 2007 to 13 March 2012. Among these four names, his is the one that carries both records.
Carry away the reason rather than the list: the pro-tem chair is an appointment made afresh at the start of a new House, so a long-serving member can occupy it repeatedly while being elected Speaker only once.
- (b)Govind Singh — Govind Singh Kunjwal, on the Congress benches, held the Speaker's chair of the third Assembly from 26 March 2012 to 20 March 2017. That is one office, held once.
He is the right answer to who was Speaker of the Uttarakhand Assembly between the 2012 and 2017 elections — not to a stem that also wants repeated pro-tem service. The pro-tem chair in 2012 went to Shailendra Mohan Singhal.
- (c)Ajay Bhatt — Ajay Bhatt's Assembly record is from Ranikhet, and his leadership role in the House was on the opposition side: he was Leader of the Opposition from 2012 to 2017.
He is the right answer to who led the Opposition in the Uttarakhand Assembly during the third Assembly. He had also served on the treasury side, holding portfolios in the interim Uttaranchal government formed in 2000.
He then moved to national politics, sitting for Nainital–Udhamsingh Nagar in the Lok Sabha from May 2019, and was Union Minister of State for Defence and Tourism from 7 July 2021 to 10 June 2024.
- (d)Prakash Pant — Prakash Pant did hold the Speaker's chair — of the interim Uttaranchal Assembly, from 12 March 2001 to 14 March 2002. Again, one office, held once.
He is the right answer to who was Speaker of the interim Uttaranchal Assembly. His later career was ministerial: Tourism and allied portfolios from 2007, then Finance from March 2017 until his death on 5 June 2019.
A Legislative Assembly elects its own Speaker, but that election itself needs someone in the chair. Under the proviso to Article 179, an outgoing Speaker stays on only until immediately before the first meeting of the newly elected Assembly.
So a new House assembles with the Speaker's and the Deputy Speaker's chairs both empty. Article 180(1) covers exactly that gap: the Governor appoints a member of the Assembly to perform the Speaker's duties.
That member is what parliamentary usage calls the pro-tem Speaker, who administers the oath to the newly elected members and presides over the election of the Speaker; the assignment ends the moment the House chooses one.
Uttarakhand was carved out of Uttar Pradesh on 9 November 2000 and renamed from Uttaranchal on 1 January 2007, so its Assembly has a short and recent list of presiding officers.
The same names recur in that record under different offices — Speaker, pro-tem Speaker, minister, Leader of the Opposition. Which office a person held, and when, is what a stem like this turns on.
- Harbans Kapoor (BJP, Dehradun Cantonment) was Speaker of the second Uttarakhand Assembly from 12 March 2007 to 13 March 2012.
- He served as pro-tem Speaker of the Uttarakhand Assembly in 2002, in 2007 and again in 2017.
- Harbans Kapoor died on 13 December 2021, before the 2022 Assembly election.
- Muhammad Muhiuddin (BSP) was pro-tem Speaker in 2000, Shailendra Mohan Singhal in 2012 and Banshidhar Bhagat in 2022.
- Prakash Pant was Speaker of the interim Uttaranchal Assembly, and later Finance Minister from March 2017 until his death on 5 June 2019.
- Yashpal Arya was Speaker from 15 March 2002 to 11 March 2007; Govind Singh Kunjwal from 26 March 2012 to 20 March 2017.
- Premchand Aggarwal was Speaker from 23 March 2017 to 21 March 2022; Ritu Khanduri Bhushan took the chair on 26 March 2022.
- Article 180(1) lets the Governor appoint a member of the Assembly to perform the Speaker's duties when the Speaker's and Deputy Speaker's offices are both vacant.
- The proviso to Article 179 keeps an outgoing Speaker in office until immediately before the first meeting of the newly elected Assembly.
- Ajay Bhatt represented Ranikhet, was Leader of the Opposition from 2012 to 2017, and has sat for Nainital–Udhamsingh Nagar in the Lok Sabha since May 2019.
Three of the four options have held the Speaker's chair; the right-hand column is what leaves only Harbans Kapoor.
- The stem stacks two offices. Three of the four names here have been Speaker, so a list of Speakers alone does not settle the item.
- A pro-tem stint is short and ends as soon as the House elects its Speaker; it is a different thing from a tenure as Speaker, so it has to be tracked as its own record.
- Harbans Kapoor died on 13 December 2021, so carrying his pro-tem record forward into the fifth Assembly is an error — Banshidhar Bhagat was pro-tem in 2022.
- 'Pro-tem Speaker' is parliamentary usage; Article 180(1) describes the same person by function, as a member of the Assembly whom the Governor appoints.
- In 2012 the Speaker's chair and the pro-tem chair went to two different people — Govind Singh Kunjwal and Shailendra Mohan Singhal — so one year can carry two names.
The device is a name-matching stem that stacks two offices and adds a repetition condition, so a single memorised list does not close it.
The same idea can be turned around: give the constitutional provision and ask who appoints the presiding officer of a newly elected House, or give a year and ask who administered the oath to its members.
A statement-based version tests when an outgoing Speaker vacates office — on dissolution, or immediately before the first meeting of the new Assembly.
RPSC_2018_PRE_Prelims2018_Q592018The same device: one name asked to carry more than one presiding office of a state Assembly. Rajasthan's stem stacks three offices — pro-tem Speaker, Speaker and Deputy Speaker — while the UKPSC stem asks instead for repetition in the pro-tem role, over an Assembly whose record begins only in 2000.
CAPF_GAI_2023_Q1032023Also pairs the pro-tem chair with the Speaker's chair in one person, but at the Union level and about the Lok Sabha. It turns on the manner of election — 'unanimously elected' — whereas the UKPSC item turns on how many times the pro-tem role was held in a state Assembly.
UPSC_2018_GS1_Q392018Supplies the rule behind this item. It tests when the Speaker of a Legislative Assembly vacates office; because the outgoing Speaker stays only until just before the new House's first meeting, that House opens without one, which is what creates the pro-tem chair. That question is a statement pair on the law; this one asks for a name.
CDS_GK_2022_I_Q902022Tests the Speaker's office as a set of constitutional rules, one option stating that the Deputy Speaker performs the duties while the Speaker's office is vacant — for the Lok Sabha that limb is Article 95(1). Its state counterpart is Article 180(1), whose further limb, the member the Governor appoints when both chairs are empty, is the pro-tem arrangement this card turns on. That question concerns the Lok Sabha and the rules, not a named state legislator's record.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Who held the office of Speaker in the interim Uttaranchal Legislative Assembly, before the first general election to the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly?
- (a)Prakash Pant
- (b)Yashpal Arya
- (c)Harbans Kapoor
- (d)Govind Singh Kunjwal
Answera — Prakash Pant was Speaker of the interim Uttaranchal Assembly from 12 March 2001 to 14 March 2002.Yashpal Arya was Speaker of the Assembly elected in 2002, Harbans Kapoor of the one elected in 2007 and Govind Singh Kunjwal of the one elected in 2012, all after the interim House had ended.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Under the Constitution, when the offices of both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of a State Legislative Assembly are vacant, the duties of the Speaker are performed by
- (a)the Chief Minister of the State
- (b)a member of the Assembly appointed by the Governor
- (c)the Chairman of the State Legislative Council
- (d)the senior-most member of the Assembly, by automatic operation of law
Answerb — Article 180(1) provides that while the Speaker's office is vacant the Deputy Speaker performs the duties, and if that office is also vacant, such member of the Assembly as the Governor may appoint for the purpose.(a) hands the task to the executive, which the Article does not do. (c) names an officer of a second chamber, and Uttarakhand's legislature is unicameral. (d) states the convention, not the law — seniority guides the Governor's choice but the appointment still has to be made.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Harbans Kapoor, who represented Dehradun Cantonment, was Speaker of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly during which period?
- (a)March 2002 to March 2007
- (b)March 2007 to March 2012
- (c)March 2012 to March 2017
- (d)March 2017 to March 2022
Answerb — Kapoor took the chair on 12 March 2007 and held it to 13 March 2012, the term of the second Assembly.(a) was Yashpal Arya's term, (c) Govind Singh Kunjwal's and (d) Premchand Aggarwal's. Kapoor does appear at the start of 2002 and 2017 as well, but as pro-tem Speaker — a separate appointment that ends once the House elects its Speaker.
- practice — not a real PYQ
At the first sitting of a newly constituted State Legislative Assembly, the member whom the Governor appoints to perform the Speaker's duties principally
- (a)administers the oath or affirmation to the newly elected members and presides over the election of the Speaker
- (b)nominates the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly
- (c)summons the Assembly for its first sitting
- (d)allots reserved symbols to the parties represented in the Assembly
Answera — this is the whole point of the appointment: the House cannot elect its Speaker until its members are sworn in and someone is in the chair to conduct that election.(b) is wrong because the Assembly elects its Deputy Speaker itself under Article 178. (c) is the Governor's power under Article 174. (d) belongs to the Election Commission and is exercised before polling, not at the first sitting.