Speaker directs Lok Sabha Secretariat to correct notice seeking his removal
Context: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla asked the Lok Sabha Secretariat to correct shortcomings in the Opposition’s notice seeking his removal from his Constitutional office, and proceed with the corrected notice.
- The revised notice will be listed after the commencement of the second phase of the Budget Session. The second phase will be held between March 9 and April 2.
- “Shortcomings were found in the notice submitted by Opposition MPs to remove Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla,” a source in the Lok Sabha Secretariat said. “The notice referred four times to events of February 2025, on the basis of which it could have been rejected under the rules,” they added.
- Mr. Birla directed the Secretariat to have the defective notice corrected and then proceed with it. It will be taken up in the second part of the Budget Session. The first part of the session, which got under way on January 28, will go into recess on February 13.
- While the Opposition’s move is aimed at making a political point on the way the House has functioned, there is considerable interest in the process. Article 94 of the Constitution deals with the provisions regarding the removal of the Speaker.
On Article 94C
- The Opposition notice is under Article 94C, which states that the Speaker “may be removed from his office by a resolution of the House of the People by a majority of the then members of the House”.
- This is interpreted as the effective majority of the House, that is, more than half of the strength of the House minus the vacancies.
- “The Constitution doesn’t use the word effective majority but it’s meant to convey the effective strength of the House,” former Lok Sabha Secretary-General P.D.T. Achary told The Hindu.
- A minimum of 14 days’ notice has to be given before a resolution seeking the removal of the Speaker can be taken up by the House, and under Article 96, the Speaker can respond to the notice for removal.