Pro-tem Speaker administers oath to newly-elected MLA in Puducherry

More than five months after the National Democratic Alliance government headed by Chief Minister and AINRC founder N. Rangasamy came to power in Puducherry, the Speaker’s post remains vacant leading to a situation where the Pro-tem Speaker, a temporary arrangement made during government formation for administering oath to newly-elected legislators, continued to officiate legislative procedures in the Union Territory. 

The delay in conducting the Speaker election was because of the claims made by both the All India NR Congress (AINRC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the post within the NDA fold. After Mr. Rangasamy was sworn-in along with two other Ministers on May 13, Lieutenant Governor K. Kailashnathan had appointed AIADMK MLA A. Anbalagan as Pro-tem Speaker for administering the oath of office to the newly-elected legislators.

However, in the absence of election to the Speaker’s post, he chaired the entire Budget session of the Legislative Assembly held in August. Again on Wednesday, he administered the oath of office to the newly-elected AINRC MLA Ashok Anand following his election from Thattanchavady Assembly constituency in the recent bypoll held after Mr. Rangasamy vacated the seat by retaining the second seat of Mangalam he won in the April polls. 

Political parties and social organisations have been critical of the AINRC-BJP government for the delay in fulfilling the Constitutional requirement. Article 178 of the Constitution explicitly mandates the appointment of a Speaker to the Legislative Assembly.

“Every Legislative Assembly of a State shall, as soon as may be, choose two members of the Assembly to be respectively Speaker and Deputy Speaker thereof and, so often as the office of Speaker or Deputy Speaker becomes vacant, the Assembly shall choose another member to be Speaker or Deputy Speaker, as the case may be,” the article states.

The chapter-III of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of the Business of the Puducherry Legislative Assembly also prescribes election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker. The rules clearly put the onus on the government for the appointment of a Speaker and Deputy Speaker for the conduct of the Assembly proceedings.

Legal experts argue that though the Constitution has not prescribed any timeline for appointing the Speaker, the term “as soon as may be” mentioned in the Article 178 does not mean an endless wait for fulfilling a legally binding requirement on the part of an elected government. 

“The Supreme Court in a different context has held that the words as soon as possible have significant constitutional content which is a constitutional imperative of expedition. Just because the Constitution has not set a deadline, it does not mean that the appointment could be made any time during the tenure of a government. The onus is on the elected government to fill the post at the earliest,” the expert told The Hindu.

Former Member of Parliament and president of Puducherry Maanila Makkal Munntera Kazhagam M. Ramadass said the people of Puducherry deserve a government and a legislature that function according to the law, constitutional principles and established parliamentary conventions.

The appointment of Pro-tem Speaker is a temporary arrangement made at the commencement of a new Assembly. The arrangement cannot be treated as an indefinite substitute for the statutory offices of Speaker and Deputy Speaker, the economist-turned-politician said.

AINRC-BJP tussle

Though the ruling AINRC and BJP have not openly spelt out the exact reason for the delay in electing a Speaker, sources within the parties confirm that the leadership of both the parties are not ready to budge after making a claim for the post. 

While BJP leaders say, there was a pre-poll agreement to allocate the Speaker’s post and two Ministers for the BJP in the coalition government, the AINRC leadership said the election results were highly in favour for them because of the better performance of the party in the alliance.

“During the first NDA government, the Speaker post and two Minister posts were given because the seat difference between both the parties was only around four. In the present Assembly, we have more than double the number of their seats and hence the previous tenure’s formula cannot be adopted. We are hopeful of finding a solution to the stalemate at the earliest,” said an AINRC leader.