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INDIAN POLITY

A Constitution is a document of people’s faith and aspirations possessing a

special legal sanctity. It was the fundamental law of a country and all other laws

and customs of the country in order to be valid must conform to it.

Constituent Assembly

Facts

1. 6th

May 1946 – Cabinet Mission made a declaration.

2. Election to the constituent Assembly 9th

December 1946 – Dr.

Sachchidanand Sinha acted as its Provincial President.

3. On 11th

December the assembly elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as its

permanent President.

4. 13 committees were appointed by the constituent assembly.

5. Rough Draft was prepared by B.N. Rao

6. The Rough Draft was referred to the Drafting Committee headed by B.R.

Ambedkar on 29th

August, 1947.

7. The committee consisted of seven members. Chairman – B.R. Ambedkar.

Other members are Gopalaswami Ayyangar, Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar,

K.M. Munsi, Sayid Mohammad Sadulla, Sri. N. Madhava Rao, T.T.

Krishnamachar.

8. Constitution was adopted on 26th

November with 284 members appended

their sign out of 299.

9. Citizenship, elections, provisional parliament temporary and traditional

provision were given immediate effect.

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10. 26th

January 1950 – Date of commencement of the Constituent.

SOURCE FEATURES

Constitution of Britain Law making procedure; Single

Citizenship; Rule of Law

Constitution of U.S.A. Federalism; Independence of judiciary;

Judicial Review; Indirect election of the

President; Fundamental Rights;

Removal of Supreme Court and High

Court judges.

Constitution of Ireland Directive Principles of state Policy;

Method of Presidential election;

Nomination of members to Rajya Sabha

by President.

FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES

The fundamental rights by the Indian Constitution are now classified in six

categories. Originally the, Constitution contained seven categories of Fundamental

rights, right to property was removed from the list fundamental rights by the 44th

amendment in 1978, there are only six categories of fundamental rights.

There are six types of fundamental rights in Part III of the Constitution;

they are as follows:

i. Rights to Equality (Art. 14-18)

ii. Right to freedom; (Art. 19-22)

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iii. Right against Exploitation; (Art.23-24)

iv. Right to Freedom of Religion; (Art.25-28)

v. Cultural and Educational Rights; (Art. 29-30)

vi. Rights to Constitutional Remedies; (Art. 31-32)

Suspension of Fundamental Rights

Our fundamental rights are justiciable only during the normal times. The

Constitution has declared that as soon as the state of Emergency is declared under

Article 352 (war or internal armed rebellion), the rights granted under Article 19

(Freedom) Automatically stand suspended.

In addition to the above, the President is authorized by Article 359 to issue

a separate order during the period of emergency suspending even the right to

constitutional remedies.

Fundamental Duties

The original Constitution did not make any mention of the fundamental

duties of citizens. These were incorporated by the Forty-Second Amendment in

1976, and are contained in Part IVA of the Constitution.

Constitutional Remedies

In the case of any violation of Fundamental Rights, the affected individual

can invoke the writ jurification of the Supreme Court (Article 32) and High Court

(Article 226) in order to get remedies.

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Kind or Writ

A. Habeas Corpus - Issued in case of an illegal detention of a person

B. Mandamus - Issued by a superior or court commanding a

person or

public duty.

C. Prohibition - Issued to lower court to stop proceedings in a

particular

case.

D. Certiori - Issued to a lower court, quashing the orders of the

lower

court on Jurisdication grounds

E. Quo Warranto - Issued to prevent a person from holding an office to

which he is not entitled.

Directive Principles of State Policy

The Directive Principles of State Policy have been borrowed from the

Constitution of Ireland. These principles are contained in Articles 35-51 of the

Constitution under Part IV are in the nature of directions to the legislative and

executive wings of the government.

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Important DPSP

1. Article 40 directs the state to take steps to organize village panchayats.

2. Article 44 requires the state to make efforts to secure a uniform civil code.

3. Article 45 requires the state to make provision for free and compulsory

education.

The President

The Indian Constitution, under Art.53, vests the Executing power of the

Union in the President, who shall exercise the executive power directly or through

officers subordinate to him in accordance with the Constitution.

Election of the President

The President of India is elected by indirect election. He is elected by an

electoral college in accordance with the system of proportional representation by

means of the single transferable vote. The Electoral College consists of:

(a) The elected members of both Houses of Parliament and

(b) The elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the states (Act.54).

The expression ‘states’ includes the National Capital Territory of Delhi and

the Union Territory of Pondicherry.

Vice-President

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The Vice-President is the ex-officio Chairman of the Council of States

(Rajya Sabha). He is the Second highest dignitary of India occupying the second

place in the warrant of precedence. He is elected for a five-year term. His normal

function if to preside over the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha.

Legislature in India

PARLIAMENT is the central legislature of the Indian union. It is a

bicameral legislature. Thus, the legislature of the Indian union, also known as

Parliament, consists of the President and two houses Rajya Sabha or Council or

States and Lok Sabha or House of the People. The President is an integral part of

Parliament.

The Rajya Sabha

The Rajya Sabha consists of not more than 250 members with 238

members representing the states and the Union Territories and 12 to be nominated

by the President to give representation to persons of distinction in the fields of art,

science, literature and social sciences.

The Lok Sabha

The Lok Sabha consists of members directly elected from the territory

constituencies in the states. Unless dissolved earlier, the term of the House is five

years from the date of its first meeting. The term can be extended by a year during

the period of emergency and in no case beyond a period of 6 months after the

proclamation of emergency has ceased to operate.

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The maximum strength of House of the people is 550 members. Among

these are 530 directly elected on the basis of adult suffrage from territorial

constituencies in the states and 20 members represent the union territories. Not

more than two members from Anglo-Indian community may be nominated by the

President.

Speaker

The Lok Sabha elects two of its members to its speaker and deputy speaker

respectively. Both are elected for the life of the Lok Sabha which is normally five

years. He does not vote but he on use his casting vote but he on use his casting

vote in case of a tie.

State Legislatures

The system of government in states closely follows the pattern of the Union

Government.

The legislature of a state consists of the Governor and one or two houses of

legislature, as the case may be.

Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) of each state is constituted by

direct election of the basis of adult franchise. The total number of the Assembly

members are not more than 500 or less than 60 chosen by direct election.

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A candidate for the assembly should be a citizen of India and not less than

25 years of age.

State Legislative Council

Every state Legislative Council is a permanent body and is not subject to

dissolution but one third of its members retire every two years. Parliament can,

however, abolish existing Legislative Council or create new one.

Composition

Legislative Councils (Vidhan Parishad) have one third of the total

membership of the assemblies but not less than 40 members. Of these,

1. One-third are elected by local authorities such as municipalities and district

boards.

2. One-third by members of the Assembly.

3. One-twelfth by graduates of universities residing in the state.

4. One-twelfth by teachers teaching in institutions not lower than of a

secondary school;

5. One-Sixth the rest are nominated by the Governor.

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The members to be nominated by the Governor are persons having special

knowledge or experience in literature, art, science, cooperative movement or

social service.

Parliamentary Terms

Question Hour

The first hour of every sitting in the two Houses of Parliament is devoted to

asking and answering of questions and is popularly known as Question Hour. The

questions are generally addressed to the ministers and are of three categories, viz,.

starred questions, unstarred questions, and short notice questions.

Zero Hour

The term was coined by the press in the early 1960s. The hour after the

Question Hour in the two Houses of Parliament is known as zero hour.

Adjournment Motion

Adjournment motion is moves to draw the attention of the House to a

recent matter of urgent public importance having serious consequences. The

adjournment motion can be moves by any member and if 50 members support it,

the speaker grants permission for the motion.

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No Confidence Motion

The council of ministers remains in office as long as it enjoys the

confidence of the Lok Sabha. The moment the Lok Sabha expresses lock of

confidence in the council of ministers, it has to tender resignation.

The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court stands at the apex of the judicial system of India. It

consists of Chief Justice and 25 other judges. The Chief Justice is appointed by the

President in consultation with such judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts

as he deems necessary. The other judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by

the President in consultation with the Chief Justice.

Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court

Original Jurisdiction

This means that certain types of cases can originate with the Supreme Court

alone. The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in

(a) Disputes between the center and one of more states.

(b) Disputes between the center and any state or states on the one hand and one

or more states on the other.

(c) Disputes between two or more states

(d) Disputes regarding the enforcement of Fundamental Rights

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Appellate Jurisdiction

The Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal and its writs and decrees

run throughout the country. All cases that come to the Supreme Court in the form

of appeals against judgments of lower courts.

Advisory Jurisdiction

If the President feels that a question of law or fact has arisen or is likely to

arise, and the question is of such a nature and of such public importance that it is

expedient to obtain the opinion of the Supreme Court upon it, he can refer the

same to the Supreme Court for advisory opinion.

Court of Record

The Supreme Court is a court of record and its records are admitted to be of

evidentiary value and cannot be questioned in any court.

The High Court consists of a chief justice and such other judges as the

President may determine from time to time.

Public interest Litigation

The concept of public interest litigation rests on the principle that any

member of public can initiate legal proceedings on behalf of an aggrieved person,

especially a poor person who is unable to more the court on his or her own.

State Executive

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The executive at the state level has been modeled on the central pattern. It

consists of the governor, the council of ministers and the chief minister.

The Governor

The governor is the nominal executive head of the state. The is appoint4ed

by the President and holds office during his pleasure.

To be eligible for appointment as governor, a person

1. Must be a citizen of India

2. Must have completed 35 years of age

Term and Salary – The Governor is appointed for a term of five years. However,

he can relinquish his office earlier by tendering his resignation to the President.

The Advocate General

Each state has an Advocate General, whose position is akin to the position

of the Attorney General of India at the Centre. The Advocate General of a state is

appointed by the governor of the state and holds office during his pleasure.

Family Courts

The family courts can be set up by the state government under Family

Courts Act 1984.

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Lok Adalats

Lok Adalats are voluntary agencies which seek to resolve the disputes

through conciliatory methods. These Adalats work under the supervision of the

estate Legal Aid and Advice Boards.

Nyaya Panchayats

The Nyaya Panchayats have been established with the objective of

providing speedy and inexpensive justice to the villagers. However, the

jurisdiction of the Nyaya Panchayats differs in different states. Usually a Nyaya

Panchayat enjoys jurisdiction over one of five Village Panchayats.

Union-State Relations

The federal system adopted in India involves division of authority between

the union and the states. Both the Centre and the states derive authority from the

Constitution and each is sovereign within the field assigned to it.

Legislative Relations

The Constitutions divides the subjects into the union list (97 subjects), the

state list (66 subjects) and the concurrent list (47 subjects)

Sarkaria Commission

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In view of the growing pressure for greater autonomy, in june 1983 the

union government appointed a commission under the chairmanship of Justice

Sarkaria to review the question of Centre state relations.

Important Constitutional Amendments

1. The First Amendment was carried out in 1951 to overcome certain practical

difficulties relating to Fundamental Rights pertaining to equality, liberty

and property.

2. The Seventh Amendment (1956) was necessitated to implement the

recommendations of the States Reorganization Commission regarding the

reorganization of the states on a linguistic basis.