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Chapter Four
EXECUTIVE
INTRODUCTION
Legislature, executive and judiciary are the three organs of government. Together,
they perform the functions of the government, maintain law and order and look
after the welfare of the people. The Constitution ensures that they work in
coordination with each other and maintain a balance among themselves. In a
parliamentary system, executive and the legislature are interdependent: the
legislature controls the executive, and, in turn, is controlled by the executive.
In this chapter we shall discuss the composition, structure and function of the
executive organ of the government. This chapter will also tell you about the
changes that have occurred in recent times due to political practice. After reading
this chapter, you will be able to
± make a distinction between the parliamentary and the presidential executive;
± understand the constitutional position of the President of India;
78 ± know the composition and functioning of the Council of Ministers and the
importance of the Prime Minister; and
± understand the importance and functioning of the administrative machinery.
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WHAT IS AN EXECUTIVE?
Who is in charge of the administration of your school? 79
Who takes important decisions in a school or a university?
In any organisation, some office holder has to take
decisions and implement those decisions. We call this
activity administration or management. But
administration requires a body at the top that will take
policy decisions or the big decisions and supervise and
coordinate the routine administrative functioning. You
may have heard about the executives of big companies,
banks or industrial units. Every formal group has a body
of those who function as the chief administrators or the
executives of that organisation. Some office holders decide
the policies and rules and regulations and then some office
holders implement those decisions in actual day-to-day
functioning of the organisation. The word executive means
a body of persons that looks after the implementation of
rules and regulations in actual practice.
In the case of government also, one body may take
policy decisions and decide about rules and regulations,
while the other one would be in charge of implementing
those rules. The organ of government that primarily looks
after the function of implementation and administration
is called the executive.
What are the principal functions of the executive?
Executive is the branch of government responsible for the
implementation of laws and policies adopted by the
legislature. The executive is often involved in framing of
policy. The official designations of the executive vary from
country to country. Some countries have presidents, while
others have chancellors. The executive branch is not just
about presidents, prime ministers and ministers. It also I remember somebody saying
extends to the administrative machinery (civil servants). that the executive in a democracy
While the heads of government and their ministers, saddled is accountable to people. Is that
with the overall responsibility of government policy, are also true of executives in big
together known as the political executive, those companies? Aren’t they called
responsible for day to day administration are called the CEOs? Who are they
permanent executive. accountable to?
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Activity
Procure a photograph of the SAARC summit
meeting or the meeting of G-7 countries and list
those who attended the meeting. Can you imagine
why those people and not some others are attending
the meeting?
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Do you know what the word shall means here? It indicates that the
advice is binding on the President. In view of the controversy about the
scope of the President’s powers, a specific mention was made in the
Constitution by an amendment that the advice of the Council of
Ministers will be binding on the President. By another amendment
84 made later, it was decided that the President can ask the Council of
Ministers to reconsider its advice but, has to accept the reconsidered
advice of the Council of Ministers.
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Jawaharlal Nehru
CAD, Vol. VI, p. 734
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bill. This ‘veto’ power is limited because, if the Parliament passes the
same bill again and sends it back to the President, then, the President 87
has to give assent to that bill. However, there is no mention in the
Constitution about the time limit within which the President must
send the bill back for reconsideration. This means that the President
can just keep the bill pending with him without any time limit. This
gives the President an informal power to use the veto in a very effective
manner. This is sometimes referred to as ‘pocket veto’.
Then, the third kind of discretion arises more out of political
circumstances. Formally, the President appoints the Prime Minister.
Normally, in the parliamentary system, a leader who has the support
of the majority in the Lok Sabha would be appointed as Prime
Minister and the question of discretion would not arise. But imagine
a situation when after an election, no leader has a clear majority in
the Lok Sabha. Imagine further that after attempts to forge alliances,
two or three leaders are claiming that they have the support of the
majority in the house. Now, the President has to decide whom to
appoint as the Prime Minister. In such a situation, the President has
to use his own discretion in judging who really may have the support
of the majority or who can actually form and run the government.
Since 1989 major political changes have considerably increased
the importance of the presidential office. In the four parliamentary
elections held from 1989 to 1998, no single party or coalition attained
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READ A CARTOON
22 August 1954
There is no Council of Ministers without the Prime Minister. This
cartoon shows how, literally, the Prime Minister ‘leads’ the Council
of Ministers!
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However, the power which the Prime Minister wields and actually
puts into use depends upon the prevailing political conditions. The 93
position of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers has been
unassailable whenever a single political party has secured majority
in the Lok Sabha. However, this has not
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the central government). Though the Chief Minister, like the Prime
Minister is the leader of the majority party in the Assembly, the
Governor has more discretionary powers. However, the main
principles of parliamentary system operate at the State level too.
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Conclusion
The modern executive is a very powerful institution of
government. The executive enjoys greater powers compared to
other organs of the government. This generates a greater need
to have democratic control over the executive. The makers of
our Constitution thought with foresight that the executive must
be put firmly under regular supervision and control. Thus, a
parliamentary executive was chosen. Periodic elections,
constitutional limits over the exercise of powers and democratic
politics have ensured that executive organ cannot become
unresponsive.
Exercises
1. A parliamentary executive means:
a. Executive where there is a parliament
b. Executive elected by the parliament
c. Where the parliament functions as the Executive
d. Executive that is dependent on support of the majority in the
parliament
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4. Identify the ministry which may have released the following news
items. Would this be a ministry of the central government or the
State government? Why?
a. An official release said that in 2004-05 the Tamil Nadu
Textbooks Corporation would release new versions for
standards VII, X and XI.
b. A new railway loop line bypassing the crowded Tiruvallur-
Chennai section to help iron ore exporters. The new line, likely
to be about 80 km long, will branch off at Puttur and then
reach Athipattu near the port.
c. The three-member sub-divisional committee formed to verify
suicide by farmers in Ramayampet mandal has found that
the two farmers who committed suicide this month have had
economic problems due to failure of crops.
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