Chapter – 1: The Executive
1. President: - Executive head of the State, First citizen of the Country.
2. Art. 52: - There shall be a president of India.
3. Art. 53: - The executive power of the Union shall be vested in the President and shall be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him. The Supreme Command of the Defence forces of the Union is also vested in the President (Art. 53 (2)).
4. Art. 54: - Election of President: - The electoral college shall consists of – the elected members of both Houses of Parliament; the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the States; and the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of Union Territories of Delhi and Pondicherry (According to the 70th Amendment Act 1992, the expression ‘States” includes the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the UT of Pondichery).
5. Art. 55: - Manner of election of President. The election is held through the system of proportional representation by means of the single –transferable vote by secret ballot.
6. Art. 56: - The term of office of President is Fiver Years form the date on which he enters upon his office.
7. Art. 57: - This article says that there is no upper limit on the number of times a person can become President. However, in his speech in Parliament in 1961, PM Nehru observed that we should adopt a convention that no person shall be a President for more than two terms, and that no amendment of the constitution was necessary to enjoin this.
8. Art. 58: - deals with the qualification for President. i.e. He must be a citizen of India, completed 35 years in age, eligible to be a member of Lok Sabha, must not hold any Govt. post. Exceptions are: President and Vice President, Governor of any State and Minister of Union or States.
9. Art. 59: - Conditions of President’s Office: - Takes oath in presence of Chief Justice of India, or in his absence, senior most judge of Supreme Court.
10. Art. 60: - Oath or affirmation of President:-
11. Art. 61: - deals with the impeachment procedure of the President; impeachment procedure is a quasi- judicial procedure; can be impeached only on the ground of violation of constitution. The impeachment procedure can be initiated in either house of the Parliament. The Charge must come in the form of a proposal which must be signed by at least one fourth of the total membership of that House. Before the resolution could be passed, a 14 days notice must be given to the President. If, after the notice, the House passes the resolution by a majority of not less than 2/3rd membership of that House, the matter will be referred to the other House. If other House also passes the resolution by a majority of not less than 2/3rd membership of that House, the President stands impeached from his Office from the date on which the motion is passed.
12. Art. 62: - In case the office falls vacant due to death, resignation or removal, the Vice – President acts as President. If he is not available then Chief Justice, if not then senior most Judge of Supreme Court acts as the President. The election is to be held within 6 months of the vacancy.
13. Supreme Court inquires all disputes regarding President’s election.
14. In the history of President election, V.V. Giri is the only person who won the election of the President as an independent candidate in 1969.
15. In July 1977, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy was elected unopposed as no one else filed nomination for the post of the President.
16. Only once in the history of India, Just. M. Hidayatullah Chief Justice of Supreme Court, discharged the duties of the President of India in 1969. He is the only person to perform the functions of the President two times in two different capacities, the first time in 1969 being the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the second time being the Vice President of India in 1982.
17. President can nominated 12 members to Rajya Sabha and 2 members of Anglo-Indian community in Lok Sabha if they haven’t received adequate representation.
18. When a bill is sent to the President after it has been passed by the Parliament, he can: (a) Give his assent to the Bill or (b) Withhold his assent to the Bill or (c) Return the Bill (if it is not a Money Bill or a Constitutional Amendment Bill) for reconsideration of the Parliament although only once.
19. President has the powers to veto w.r.t. Bills passed by the Parliament. He enjoys three types of veto powers: (a) Absolute Veto: - Withholding the assent to the Bill. Normally, it is exercised only in the case of private member’s Bill. (b) Suspense Veto: - It is exercised when instead of refusing his assent out rightly to a bill, the President returns the Bill or part of it for the reconsideration and the Parliament makes it obligatory on him to give his assent to it. In this case, the veto power is merely of suspensive nature. (c) Pocket veto: - Since the constitution does not provide any time limit within which the President is to declare his assent or refusal, the President could exercise this veto by not taking any action for an indefinite time; but if the ministry has a strong backing in Parliament, it would not be possible for him to do so. Pocket veto was used in 1986 by the then President Giani Zail Singh in the Postal Bill.
20. President can enact laws through ordinance when the Parliament is in recess (Art. 123). These ordinance must be passed by Parliament within 6 weeks of reassembly.
21. All money bills can originate in Parliament only on recommendation of President.
22. No demand for grant can be made except on his recommendation.
23. Emergency powers of President:
a). National Emergency (Art. 352) :- On the ground of security threats to India by war, external aggression or armed rebellion. The President can proclaim this emergency only after receiving a written recommendation from the Cabinet. The proclamation of emergency must be approved by the Parliament with in one month. If approved, it will continue for six months. It can be extended for an indefinite period with an approval of the Parliament for every six months. It has been proclaimed three times so far. 1962, 1971, 1975. President can suspend the operation of Fundamental Rights (except Art 20 & 21) during this type of emergency. Art. 19 can only be suspended in case of external agency and not in case of internal emergency. The Parliament can make laws on items mentioned in the State list during the period of National Emergency.
b). State Emergency (Art. 356): - Emergency due to failure of constitutional machinery in state. The President’s rule can be imposed when the President is satisfied, on the basis of either a report of the State Governor or otherwise, that the governance of the State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. The proclamation of the President’s Rule should be approved by the Parliament within two months. If approved, it remains in force for 6 months from the date of proclamation of the state emergency. It can be extended for a maximum period of three years with the approval of the Parliament every six months. The state Governor, on behalf of the President carries on the State administration with the help of the advisors appointed by the President or the Chief Secretary of the State. The president’s rule has been imposed more than 100 times.
c) Financial Emergency (Art. 360) : - The president can proclaim Financial Emergency if he is satisfied that the financial stability or the credit of India or any part there of is threatened. Such a proclamation must be approved by the Parliament within two months. During the Emergency, the President can issue directions for the reduction of salaries and allowances of all or any class of persons serving under the state. Financial emergency has not been declared so far.
24. Presidents of India
Name Tenure
From To
1. Dr. Rajendra Prasad 26-01-1950 13-05-1962
2. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan 13-05-1962 13-05-1967
3. Dr. Zakir Hussain 13-05-1967 03-05-1969
Acting: - V.V.Giri (Vice Pr.) 03-05-1969 20-07-1969
Acting: - Just. M. Hidayatullah (acting- CJI) 20-07-1969 24-08-1969
4.V. V. Giri 24-08-1969 24-08-1974
5. F. Ali Ahmed 24-08-1974 11-02-1977
Acting: -B.D.Jati 11-02-1977 25-07-1977
6. N. Sanjeeva Reddy 25-07-1977 25-07-1982
7. Gaini Jail Singh 25-07-1982 25-07-1987
8. R. Venkataraman 25-07-1987 25-07-1992
9. Dr. S. D. Sharma 25-07-1992 25-07-1997
10. K. R. Narayanan 25-07-1997 25-07-2002
11. Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam 25-07-2002 25-07-2007
12. Pratibha Patil 25-07-2007 Till date
25. Dr. Zakir Hussain got the Bharat Ratna Award before becoming the President of India.
26. The name of the candidates for the office of President of India hasto be proposed by any 50 members of the electoral college.
27. The two ordinance which the President declined to promulagate for reasons of constitutional properiety on the eve of the election to the Eleventh Lok Sabha in 1996, related to - the curtailment of the election compaign period and the reservation of Jobs for Dalit Christians.
28. 42nd Amendment of the Constitution bound the President to accept the advise of the Council of Ministers.
29. President appoints State Governors, Ambassadors, Chief Justice and otherJudges of the Supreme Court and High courts, Attorney General, Chairman and other Members of UPSC, Finance commission (Art. 260)
30. President address is prepared by the PM and his cabinet.
31. V.V. Giri resigend from the Office of Vice President to contest for the office of President.
32. President can dissolve the Lok Sabha before the expiry of its normal term of 5 years on the recommendation of Prime Minister.
33. Art. 72: - President power to grand pardon
34. Illness cannot be the reason for removal of President of India.
35. Under Art. 143 President of India can seek advice from Supreme Court.
36. The President under Art. 331 may nominate two members of Anglo-Indian Community in Parliament, if that community is not adequately represented in the House of the People.
No comments:
Post a Comment