Constitution of India
Article 186: Salaries and allowances of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker and the Chairman and Deputy Chairman
Part VI — The States (Chapter III — The State Legislature, Sub-heading: Officers of the State Legislature)
Article 186 (Single clause — no sub-divisions)
WHAT IT SAYS: The Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, and the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council, shall be paid such salaries and allowances as the State Legislature may fix by law; until such law is made, the Second Schedule applies. WHAT IT MEANS: 1. Primary mechanism — State Legislature has full power to determine remuneration by enacting a law. 2. Fallback mechanism — Until such law is enacted, the Second Schedule (Part C, Para 8) governs their pay. 3. Para 8 of Second Schedule provides that salaries shall be as were payable to corresponding provincial officers immediately before commencement of the Constitution. 4. Where a province had no Legislative Council, the Governor determines pay for Chairman and Deputy Chairman. 5. Salaries are charged on the Consolidated Fund of the State — not subject to vote. KEY DOCTRINE: Doctrine of Legislative Autonomy in Financial Matters — the legislature alone (not the executive) determines pay of its own presiding officers, safeguarding institutional independence.
Constitutional Inspiration
SOURCE(S): 1. Government of India Act, 1935 — Section 66(4) Original provision: Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Provincial Legislative Assembly shall be paid salaries as fixed by Act of the Provincial Legislature; until so fixed, as the Governor may determine. What India kept: Same dual mechanism (legislature fixes by law; fallback provision until law is made). 2. British Parliamentary Convention (House of Commons) Original provision: Speaker's salary determined by Parliament itself, ensuring independence from the Crown. What India kept: Principle that legislature controls the remuneration of its own presiding officers. INDIA'S SPECIFIC ADAPTATIONS: 1. Second Schedule as fallback — Instead of leaving the fallback to the Governor's discretion (as in GoI Act 1935), the Constitution specified a fixed Second Schedule reference — to prevent executive interference. 2. Coverage of Legislative Council officers — Article 186 explicitly covers Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council, reflecting India's bicameral state legislatures. 3. State-level autonomy — Each state determines its own rates, reflecting India's federal structure and varying fiscal capacities across states.
Constituent Assembly Debate
DEBATED ON: 2 June 1949 (CAD Volume VIII) DRAFT ARTICLE: Draft Article 163 KEY FACTS: 1. Draft Article 163 was put before the Constituent Assembly on 2 June 1949. 2. It regulated salaries of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, and the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council. 3. The Draft Article was accepted WITHOUT any debate or amendments on the same day. KEY SPEAKERS: — No substantive speeches were recorded on this article. — The provision was considered non-controversial and self-explanatory. CONTEXT: 1. The parallel provision for Parliament (Draft Article 79, now Article 97) was similarly adopted without debate on 19 May 1949. 2. The framers viewed these as standard administrative provisions mirroring existing practice under the GoI Act, 1935. MAJOR DISAGREEMENTS: — None. The article was adopted unanimously without discussion. FINAL OUTCOME: Draft Article 163 was adopted as-is on 2 June 1949, becoming Article 186 in the final Constitution. AMBEDKAR'S KEY QUOTE: Not available — no debate was held on this article.
Landmark Judgments
LANDMARK JUDGMENTS: Note: There are NO landmark Supreme Court judgments directly interpreting Article 186. The provision is procedural and administrative in nature, rarely litigated. However, related broader rulings include: 1. Keshavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973) — Upheld legislative autonomy within the basic structure framework; indirectly supports the principle that legislative power to fix salaries under Art. 186 is an aspect of legislative independence. 2. Raja Ram Pal v. Hon'ble Speaker, Lok Sabha (2007) — Affirmed the institutional independence of the Speaker and presiding officers; relevant to the rationale behind constitutionally securing their financial autonomy. NOTABLE DISSENTS: — None specifically on Article 186. SCHOLARS & JURISTS: 1. D.D. Basu (Commentary on the Constitution of India) — Article 186 is the state-level counterpart of Article 97; it ensures presiding officers of state legislatures are financially independent of the executive. 2. M.P. Jain (Indian Constitutional Law) — The dual mechanism (legislature + Second Schedule fallback) prevents any financial vacuum that could compromise the functioning of the state legislature. KEY COMPARISON TABLE: | Feature | Article 97 (Parliament) | Article 186 (State Legislature) | | Covers | Speaker/Dy Speaker of Lok Sabha + Chairman/Dy Chairman of Rajya Sabha | Speaker/Dy Speaker of Vidhan Sabha + Chairman/Dy Chairman of Vidhan Parishad | | Who fixes | Parliament by law | State Legislature by law | | Fallback | Second Schedule (Part C, Para 7) | Second Schedule (Part C, Para 8) | PRACTICAL NOTE: Most states (e.g., Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka) have enacted specific laws under Article 186 to fix salaries and allowances of their presiding officers, periodically revised for inflation.