Indian Polity – Class 9

GANESH KUMAR.M
Power and duties of the President
- The Article 53 of the constitution says that “executive power”
of the Union shall be vested in the President.
With whom the real power vested?
The Constitution of India has provided for a parliamentary form
of government.
* In estimating the constitutional position of the President,
particular reference has to be made to the provisions of Articles 53,
74 and 75.
These are:
1.The executive power of the Union shall be vested in
President and shall be exercised by him either directly or
through officers subordinate to him in accordance with this
Constitution (Article 53).
2.There shall be a council of ministers with the Prime
Minister at the head to aid and advise the President who ‘shall’,
in the exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such
advice (Article 74).
3.The council of ministers shall be collectively responsible
to the Lok Sabha (Article 75).
Observation:
- Unlike US president, President of India doesn’t have any
power of control or supervision over the department of the
Government.
- The real executive being the council of ministers headed
by the prime minister.
- The president will remain the formal head/nominal head
of the administration. All such executive functions to be
expressed in the name of the President.
1) Executive power:
The executive powers and functions of the President
are:
(a) He can make rules specifying the manner in
which the orders and other instruments made and
executed in his name shall be authenticated.
(b) He can make rules for more convenient
transaction of business of the Union government, and for
allocation of the said business among the ministers.
Appointment:
He appoints and hold office during his pleasure
- Prime minister and the other ministers .
- Attorney general of India
- Governors of states
Only Can Appoint:
- Judges of the Supreme court and High court
- Comptroller and auditor general of India
- The chief election commissioner and other election
commissioners
- The chairman and members of the Union Public Service
Commission
- The chairman and members of finance commission
 - He can appoint members of National commission for SCs,
STs and other backward classes
- He can appoint an inter-state council to promote Centre-
state and inter-state cooperation.
- He directly administers the union territories through
administrators appointed by him
- Can declare any area as scheduled area
- A commission on official languages.
- A special officer for Linguistic minorities
Removal Power:
- His ministers individually
- The Attorney general of India
- The Governor of state
- The chairman or member of Public service
commission (UPSC, JPSC, SPSC) on the report of the
Supreme court
- Judge of the Supreme court and High court, CAG,
CEC, on an address of parliament
2) Diplomatic Powers:
* The international treaties and agreements are
negotiated and concluded on behalf of the President.
However, they are subject to the approval of the Parliament.
* He represents India in international forums and
affairs and sends and receives diplomats like ambassadors,
high commissioners, and so on.
3) Military Powers:
* He is the supreme commander of the defence forces
of India. In that capacity, he appoints the chiefs of the Army,
the Navy and the Air Force.
* He can declare war or conclude peace, subject to the
approval of the Parliament.
4) Emergency Powers:
* In addition to the normal powers mentioned above,
the Constitution confers extraordinary powers on the
President to deal with the following three types of
emergencies
(a)National Emergency (Article 352);
(b)President’s Rule (Article 356 & 365); and
(c)Financial Emergency (Article 360)
 Legislative Power of President

-Like crown of England, the President of India is a part of

the Union parliament.
a) Summoning, prorogue, Dissolution:
* President shall have the power to summon (or) prorogue
the house of the parliament and to dissolve the lower house
(Article 85).
* To summon a Joint sitting of both house of parliament in
case of Dead Lock between them (Article 108).
b) Opening address:
President shall address both a house of parliament assembled
together
1) First session after each general election to the house of the
people.
2) Commencement of the first session of each year, and
inform parliament of the causes of its commencement (Article 87)
3) Besides Joint sitting under Article 108, the President shall
also have the Right to address either house (or) joint sitting at any
time and to require the attendance of members of this purpose
Article 86(1).
4) The President shall have the Right to send messages to
either house of Parliament for any bills pending (or) to other
matter.
C) Nominating members to the Houses:
The president has been given to nominate certain
members to both houses of the Parliament.
1) 12 members for the council of stats who having
special Knowledge (or) Practical experience of Literature,
Science, Art, Social service.
2) 2 members from Anglo Indian communities, if he
opined, they are not adequately represented:- Ceased by
104th amendment Act 2019.
d) Laying Reports: Before Parliament
The President has the duty to cause certain reports and statement laid
before Parliament, so that Parliament have the opportunities of taking
actions upon them.
a) Annual Financial statement (Budget)- Article 112 and the
Supplementary statement (Article 115).
b) The Report of Auditor General relating to accounts of the
Government.
c) Recommendation made by the Finance Commission.
d) Report of the UPSC, explaining the reason where any advice of
the commission has not been accepted.
e) Report of the Special officer for SC& ST.
f) Report of the Commission on Backward Class.
g) Special officer for Linguistic minorities.
E) Previous Sanction to Legislation:
Article 255 of the constitution requires previous sanctions (or)
recommendation of the president for introducing Legislation on some
matters (or) it will be debarred by a court on the ground that the
previous sanction not obtained.
Those matters are
i) A bill for the formation of new states or the alteration of
boundaries etc. Article 3
ii) A bill providing any of the matters specified in Article 31 A (1).
iii) A Money bill Article 112(1); Article 117 (Finance Bill).
iv) A bill affecting taxation in which states are interested.
v) State bills imposing restrictions upon the freedom of Trade
(Article 304).
F) Assent to Legislation and Veto:

1) Veto over Union Legislature:

* A Bill will not be an act of the Indian Parliament unless and until it
receives the assent of the President.
* When a bill is passed by the parliament by getting required majority,
President has entitled to taken some measures on that bill, which are under
Article 111
- He may declare his assent
- He may declare that he withholds his assent (or)
- Other than money bill, return the bill for reconsideration of
the houses, in case if both of the house of parliament sends it back
with/without amendment, it would be obligatory/compulsory upon him to
declare his assent.
Veto power of the President:
The objective of the veto power with president is to
i) To prevent hasty and ill-considered action by the legislature.
ii) To avoid any law which is unconstitutional.

Executive Veto can be classified into

1) Absolute Veto:
* If the president refuses to assent to any bill, it cannot become law.
Normally this power exercised by Indian president in certain conditions
1. private member Bill
2. Dissolution of the house before the bill is assented by the
president.
2) Qualified Veto:
* A veto is “Qualified” when it can be overridden by an extra
ordinary majority of the Legislature.
* Such a power is exercised by US president. It is not practiced in
Indian constitution.
3) Suspensive Veto:
* An Executive veto can be overridden by the legislation by an
ordinary majority.
* However, if the bill is passed again by the Parliament with or
without amendments and again presented to the President, it is
obligatory for the President to give his assent to the bill.
* The President does not possess this veto in the case of money
bills.
4) Pocket veto:
* In this case, the President neither ratifies nor rejects nor
returns the bill, but simply keeps the bill pending for an indefinite
period.
* This power of the President not to take any action (either
positive or negative) on the bill is known as the pocket veto.
* Constitution of India does not prescribe any time-limit within
which he has to take the decision.
* * The 24th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1971 made it
obligatory for the President to give his assent to a constitutional
amendment bill
Presidential Veto over State Legislation:
The President has veto power with respect to state legislation also.
* When a bill, passed by a state legislature, is presented to the
governor for his assent, He has four alternatives (under Article 200 of the
Constitution):
1.He may give his assent to the bill, or
2.He may withhold his assent to the bill, or
3.He may return the bill (if it is not a money bill) for
reconsideration of the state legislature, or
4.He may reserve the bill for the consideration of the President.
Note: In one case it is compulsory for a Governor to send for the
consideration of President, viz, Where the law in question would derogate
the powers of High court under the constitution.
 - When a bill is reserved by the governor for the consideration of
the President, the President has three alternatives (Under Article 201
of the Constitution):
1.He may give his assent to the bill, or
2.He may withhold his assent to the bill, or
3.He may direct the governor to return the bill (if it is not a
money bill) for the reconsideration of the state legislature.
- If the bill is passed again by the state legislature with or
without amendments and presented again to the President for his
assent, the President is not bound to give his assent to the bill.
- This means that the state legislature cannot override the veto
power of the President.
 ORDINANCE-MAKING POWER OF THE PRESIDENT

- Article 123 of the Constitution empowers the President to

promulgate ordinances during the recess of Parliament.
- It is inspired from the Government of India Act, 1935 that
was retained by the Constituent Assembly.

Power of President to promulgate Ordinances during

recess of Parliament.—(1) If at any time, except when both
Houses of Parliament are in session, the President is satisfied that
circumstances exist which render it necessary for him to take
immediate action, he may promulgate such Ordinances as the
circumstances appear to him to require.
 (2) An Ordinance promulgated under this article shall have
the same force and effect as an Act of Parliament, but every such
Ordinance—
(a) shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament and shall cease
to operate at the expiration of six weeks from the reassembly of
Parliament, or, if before the expiration of that period resolutions
disapproving it are passed by both Houses, upon the passing of
the second of those resolutions; and
Explanation.—Where the Houses of Parliament are summoned to
reassemble on different dates, the period of six weeks shall be
reckoned from the later of those dates for the purposes of this
clause.
(b) may be withdrawn at any time by the President.
(3) If and so far as an Ordinance under this article makes any
provision which Parliament would not under this Constitution be
competent to enact, it shall be void.
Conditions:
1) If any time, except when both houses of parliament in
session or when either of the two Houses of Parliament is not in
session.
2) The President is satisfied that circumstances exist which
render it necessary for him to take immediate action.
An ordinance promulgated under this article shall have the same
force & effects as an act of Parliament, but it should full fill
1. Every ordinance issued by the President during the recess
of Parliament must be laid before both the Houses of Parliament
when it reassembles.
2. If an ordinance is approved by both the Houses, it
becomes an act. If Parliament takes no action at all, the
ordinance ceases to operate on the expiry of six weeks from the
reassembly of Parliament.
 3. The ordinance may also cease to operate even earlier than
the prescribed six weeks, if both the Houses of Parliament pass
resolutions disapproving it.
4.The President can also withdraw an ordinance at any time.
Note: This means that the maximum life of an ordinance can be
six months and six weeks, in case of non-approval by the
Parliament.
(a) An ordinance can be issued only on those subjects on
which the Parliament can make laws.
constitutional limitation:
- An ordinance is subject to the same constitutional
limitation as an act of Parliament. Hence, an ordinance cannot
abridge or take away any of the fundamental rights under Article
13(3)(a).
- Not a discretionary power of the President
- Not any connection with National emergency envisaged in
Article 352.
Whether ordinance is subject to Judicial Review?
- In cooper case or Bank Nationalisation case - ordinance is
Subject to Judicial Review.
Krishna Kumar Singh vs State of Bihar case in 2017 SC
ruled
- Repeated promulgation of ordinances was a fraud on the
Constitution.
- Ordinance should be placed before parliament is
mandatory
 Pardoning Power of the President

- It means to forgive a Person of his Offence.

- It is an executive power.
- The pardoning power shall be possessed by the President
as well as Governor under Article 72 and Article 161.
1. Pardon:
It removes both the sentence and the conviction and
completely absolves the convict from all sentences, punishments
and disqualifications.
2. Commutation:
It denotes the substitution of one form of punishment for a
lighter form. For example, a death sentence may be commuted to
rigorous imprisonment, which in turn may be commuted to a
simple imprisonment.
4. Respite:
It denotes awarding a lesser sentence in place of one
originally awarded due to some special fact, such as the physical
disability of a convict or the pregnancy of a woman offender.
3. Remission:
It implies reducing the period of sentence without changing
its character. For example, a sentence of rigorous imprisonment
for two years may be remitted to rigorous imprisonment for one
year.
5. Reprieve:
It implies a stay of the execution of a sentence (especially
that of death) for a temporary period. Its purpose is to enable the
convict to have time to seek pardon or commutation from the
President.
Note: The Objective of the Pardoning power upon the executive is
to correct possible Judicial errors for no human system of
Judicial administration can be free from imperfection.
In Kehr Singh Case , SC examined the pardoning power of the
President and gave certain guidelines: -
a) The petitioner for mercy has no right to an oral hearing by
the President it should only in Written petition.
b) The President can examine the evidence afresh and take a
view different from the view taken by the court.
c) The power is to be exercised by the President on the
advice of the union cabinet.
d) The President is not bound to give reasons for his order.
e) There is no need for the Supreme Court to lay down
specific guidelines for the exercise of power by the President.
Whether Pardoning power of President is subject to Judicial
Review?
* The exercise of power by the President is not subject to
judicial review except where the presidential decision is arbitrary,
irrational, mala fide or discriminatory in Maru Ram’s case. i.e. it
is subject to limited Judicial review.
Governor Can also Pardon Death Sentence:
* Section 433A in The Code Of Criminal Procedure, 1973
whenever a sentence for life imprisonment is imposed on a
person, for an offence where the law provides for death as one of
the punishments, or where a sentence of death has been charged
into imprisonment for life, such person shall not be eligible for
release from the jail unless they complete fourteen years of
imprisonment.
* Recently, The Supreme Court held that the Governor of a
State can pardon prisoners, including death row ones, even
before they have served a minimum 14 years of prison sentence.
* The Governor’s power to pardon overrides a provision in
the Code of Criminal Procedure — Section 433A.
 Rule Making Power
The President has the constitutional authority to make rules
and regulation relating to various matters such as
a) He has the power to refer any question of public
importance for the opinion of Supreme court. i.e. Advisory
Jurisdiction of Supreme court under Article 143.
b) He has the special power relating to “Union
territories” or territories which are directly administered by the
Union. Administration of such territories under his Sub-ordinate
(administrator).
 Discretionary power
Constitutionally
1) Right to be informed.
2) To reconsider the bill to the council.
3) VETO power (Limited power)
4) Appointment of CoM with PM when no party is getting
majority.
Thank You