UPSC Prelims 2018 · Question 39 of 99
UPSC Prelims 2018 question on Speaker Legislative Assembly
Consider the following statements:
1. The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly shall vacate his/her office if he/she ceases to be a member of the assembly.
2. Whenever the Legislative Assembly is dissolved, the Speaker shall vacate his/her office immediately.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Show answer
Answer: A. 1 only
Verdict
Only statement 1 is correct, so the answer is (a) 1 only.
Statement by statement
Statement 1 is CORRECT. The Speaker normally remains in office during the life of the assembly but vacates it earlier in three cases: on ceasing to be a member of the assembly, on resigning by writing to the Deputy Speaker, or on removal by a resolution passed by a majority of all the then members after 14 days advance notice.
Statement 2 is INCORRECT. Article 179 provides that whenever the Assembly is dissolved, the Speaker shall not vacate office until immediately before the first meeting of the Assembly after the dissolution. The office therefore continues across the dissolution rather than ending immediately.
Source
Indian Polity by M. Laxmikanth, chapter on State Legislature.
How to crack it
The word immediately in statement 2 is the trap, and the underlying principle is continuity of the presiding office, so that someone can administer the first sitting of the new House. The same logic explains why the Lok Sabha Speaker continues after dissolution. When a Polity statement says an office falls vacant the instant a House is dissolved, ask who would then convene the new House.