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Election
At
the first sitting after a general election, Parliament
presided over by the outgoing Speaker or, in his
absence, by the Deputy Speaker, proceeds first to elect
a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker in the manner laid down
in the Rules of Procedure. A person however cannot
preside over his own election. After the election of the
Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, the House is adjourned
for a short period so as to enable the newly elected
Speaker and Deputy Speaker to take oath of their office.
The House then meets with the new Speaker presiding.
Tenure
The
Speaker and the Deputy Speaker are deemed to have
assumed their offices as soon as they take oath from the
President after their election and continue in their
offices until their respective successors take over
generally at the commencement of a new Parliament. In
the constitutional arrangement of Bangladesh, as soon as
a care-taker government comes into power following the
dissolution of Parliament and the Prime Minister and the
members of the Cabinet, the Leader and the Deputy Leader
of the Opposition and the Chief Whip and Whips of
Parliament are deemed to have relieved themselves of
their responsibilities. Only the Speaker and the Deputy
Speaker continue in office as a link between one
Parliament and the next.
Powers and
Functions
In
exercise of his powers whether vested in him by the
Constitution, the Rules of Procedure or any other law,
the Speaker of Jatiyo Shangshad like his counterparts in
any parliamentary democracy of the Westminster model,
assumes a neutral role. He conducts, but does not take
part in, the proceedings of the House. The Speaker
cannot vote on any motion under discussion in the House.
Only in case of a tie or equality of votes, he has to
exercise his casting vote so as to help the House avoid
a stalemate and arrive at a discussion.
The
powers and functions of the Speaker emanate from the
Constitution and the Rules of Procedure. Some statutes
have also vested him with some powers, duties and
responsibilities. The constitutional powers and
responsibilities of the Speaker include the following:
·
The
Speaker performs the functions of the President, if
there is a temporary vacancy in that office or if the
President is unable to perform his functions until a
President is elected or the President resumes his
duties, as the case may be;
·
The
Speaker administers oath to Members of Parliament or
nominates someone to do so;
·
A
person elected as Member of Parliament has to take oath
of his office within 90 days of his election or lose his
seat. The Speaker can extend this period for good cause;
·
Should
a dispute arise as to the leadership of a parliamentary
party, the Speaker has been invested with powers to
resolve the dispute following the procedure laid down in
clause (2) of Article 70 and determine its leadership by
the majority of votes through a division;
·
The
Speaker causes a notification to be issued by the
Parliament Secretariat declaring the seat of a member of
Parliament vacant on account of death, resignation,
failure to take oath within 90 days of his election or
within the time extended for this purpose by the
Speaker, absence from Parliament without leave for
ninety consecutive sitting days;
·
The
Speaker also causes similar notification to be issued
when a member resigns from, or votes against, the party
which had nominated him/her as a candidate at the
election or if a member earns any disqualification that
make a person ineligible for election as a Member of
Parliament. If, however, any dispute arises on these
matters, the Speaker refers the matter to the Election
Commission for a decision;
·
The
Speaker authenticates all Bills passed in Parliament
when they are presented to the President for his assent.
If a Bill bears a certificate under the hand of the
Speaker that it is a 'money bill’, then that
certificate is conclusive for all purposes and cannot be
questioned in any court.
Enormous
powers and responsibilities have been given to the
Speaker by the Rules of Procedure of Jatiyo Shangshad.
The following is only a short list of those powers and
responsibilities that the Speaker enjoys or shoulders in
the conduct of business and other related matters:
·
He
decides the admissibility of notices for questions,
resolutions, petitions, questions of privileges, short
discussions, half-an-hour discussions, adjournment
motions, call attention and all other notices intended
to be raised in the House for a discussion;
·
The
Speaker decides all points of order raised in the House;
·
He
decides the duration of discussion on any subject, if it
is not already decided by the rules. He allocates time
for each speaker to speak on a subject;
·
He
can apply the guillotine on discussions on cut motions
on demands for grants so as to put the demands direct to
vote;
·
He
reads out messages of the President received on a Bill
returned by him for reconsideration and if the
Parliament is not in session he gets the message
published in the Bulletin and lays it in the House in
its first sitting after receipt of the message;
·
He
can expunge any word uttered in the House which he
considers to be un-parliamentary;
·
He
nominates four important committees of the House and he
himself is the ex-officio Chairman of two important
committees viz. the Business Advisory Committee and the
Committee on Rules of Procedure;
·
He
can convene a meeting of a standing committee on a
Ministry if such meeting is not called by its chairman
within the time prescribed by the rules;
·
The
Speaker can authorise a meeting of a parliamentary
committee to be held outside the precincts of
Parliament;
·
The
Speaker gives final decision as to whether a document is
relevant or not for production before a parliamentary
committee;
·
The
Speaker has to be informed if a Member of Parliament is
arrested or when he is released from custody.
·
In
case of a disorderly conduct of a member in the House,
the Speaker can direct him to go out of the House and
take other disciplinary action against him;
·
The
Speaker controls entry into those parts of the House
which are exclusively reserved for members;
·
If
any matter arises in connection with the business of the
House or in the committees for which no provision exists
in the Rules of Procedure, the matter is decided by the
Speaker.
The
Speaker has been vested with a number of powers and
responsibilities under different statutes. Under the
Parliament Secretariat Act 1994, the administrative
responsibilities of the Parliament Secretariat is vested
in him. He is the final authority for the sanction of
expenditure out of the budget of the Parliament
Secretariat. He also nominates, such number of Members
of Parliament, as prescribed in the relevant law, to the
senates of 7 major Universities of the country. Besides,
there are other statutory bodies and institutions to
whose governing bodies he nominates Members of
Parliament as prescribed by law.
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