Constitutional experts in a fix over fate of J&K Speaker

Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 15

Constitutional experts are confronted with an unprecedented question whether the Speaker elected by the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Nirmal Singh, can continue in his post after the split of the state into two Union territories.

The J&K Re-organisation Act 2019 and Parliament practices and procedures may provide answers for the continuation of the Speaker’s post till new Assembly is elected in J&K UT. It is learnt that the UT Government of J&K in consultation with the constitutional experts in New Delhi is trying to reach a conclusion about the fate of the Speaker.

The question involving Nirmal Singh who was elected as the Speaker in a special session of the Assembly following a ministerial reshuffle in the Mehbooba Mufti-led government in April last year, is being debated on the constitutional conventions in which the legislature is one of the three pillars of the country’s federal structure.

The line says that the Speaker is the guardian of the legislature and its Secretariat cannot be removed unless he steps down himself or he is impeached by the legislature. The other line says since he is the Speaker elected by the Assembly of the erstwhile state that has ceased to exist, he cannot continue in the absence of the legislature.

J&K faces a unique situation legally. The Legislature is an independent entity and the Speaker is the head who performs certain executive duties relating to the administration of the Assembly Secretariat, which according to the prevalent law, no other authority can perform.

“The Constitution clearly mentions that the Speaker can only be removed by the House after a vote of no confidence. Nowhere is it mentioned that he can be removed through any other procedure”, said a former senior official of the Assembly Secretariat.