CH-17-President
Introduction
Article 52 to 78 in part 5 of the constitution deal with the union executive.
The union executive consists the president,vice-president,prime minister,Council of ministers and Attorney General of India.
Article 52–There shall be a President of India.He is the first citizen of the country.
He is the head of the Indian state.
The president of India is not directly elected through the peoples of the country.It elected by the members of the electoral college consisting of—
1).The elected members of both the Houses of Parliament.
2).The elected members of the state legislative assemblies.
3).The elected members of the UTs of Delhi and Puducherry legislative assembly.
2).Qualification,oath and conditions(58,59,60)
1).Election of the president (54 and 55)
Article 54–(election of president)—
Article 55–(manner of election)—[55(2)]—The values of a of a MLAs and MPs votes are different—
1).The value of a MLA vote—The total population of state/The total elected members of state legislature x 1000.
2).The value of a MP vote—The values of the total MLAs votes in the country/The total elected members of the parliament.
Artcle 55(3)—The president of India is elected through the proportion Representation of single transferable vote system.
Under the single transferable vote system,the electoral quota is fixed which is 51% votes for select as a president.
Under the single transferable vote system,Each member of the electoral college is given only a one ballot paper.The voters casting votes by indicate his preference by marking 1,2,3,4,5 etc in front of the name of candidates.In the first phase,the first preference of the members will be counting and if any member secure the required quota in this phase then he will be declared president.Otherwise,the process of transfer of votes is set in motion.The ballot of the candidate securing the least number of first preference votes are cancelled and his second preference votes are transferred to the other candidates.This process continues till a candidate secure the required quota.
Article 71–All the doubts and disputes related to the president and vice-president election are inquired in the Supreme Court whose decision is final.
The constitution makers adopted the indirect process of election to the president post due to the following reasons—
1).The president of India is nominal executive and the real power are vested in the council of ministers headed by PM.So,this is conflicting if president elect directly by the peoples and not give him any real power.
2)The direct election for the president post is also very costly and time-energy consuming due to the vast size of the country.
Article 58–A person is eligible for president if he fulfill following qualifications—
1).He should be a citizen of India,
2).He should be a more than 35 years,
3).He should be qualified as a member of Loksabha ,
4).He should not hold any office of profit.
Further,the nomination of the election of the president needs subscribed at least 50 electors as proposers and 50 electors as seconders.
Every candidate should be deposit 15000 rupees in the reserve bank of India as a security,and if the candidate not win at least 1/6th votes then the security deposit will be forefeited.
I
Qualifications
Article 60–The oath of the president is administered by the CJI and if he not available then the senior most judge of the SC administer the oath of president.The president of India is preserve,protect and defend the constitution and the laws of India.
Oath or Affirmation
Article 59—The constitution lays down some conditions on the president of India such as—
1).He should not be a member of parliament or the member of state legislature or any other post,if he elect then he should vacated his post.
2).He should not hold any other office of profit.
3).He is entitled without the rent he use the official residence (the Rashtrapati Bhavan).
4).The previlages And allowances of the president do not reduce during his term.
Conditions
3).Term,impeachment and vacancy
Article 56(1)—The president of India hold the office for 5 years term.
a).However,the president also resign during his tenure to addressing the resignation letter to the Vice President.
b).Further,The president also removed from his before the completing his tenure process of impeachment.
c).The president also hold the office beyond five years until the successor assume the charge.
Term
Article 61–The president of India is also removed before completing his tenure on the ground of violation of the constitution by the impeachment process.
[61(1)].The resolution of impeachment is introduce in either House of Parliament.
[61(2)].These charges need approval of 1/4th members of that house (that framed the charges) and a 14 days notice given to the president.After the impeachment resolution pass by the majority of 2/3rd total membership of that house it sent to the other house.
[61(3)].The other House of Parliament investigate the charges and if sustain the charge then he passed the resolution by 2/3rd majority and the president is impeached.
Thus,Impeachment is a quasi judicial process.
No,President so far have been impeached.
Impeachment
The president post should be vacant due to the following reasons—
1).On the expiry of his term.
2).By the resignation.
3).By the removal through the impeachment.
4).By his death.
5).If the election of the president is void and the president disqualified.
Article 65–In case the president post is vacant due to the resignation,removal ,death,temporary leave,etc then the vice-president act as a president upto the next president take charge.
if the vice-president post also vacant then the CJI act as a president and in case the CJI post also vacant then the senior most judge of the SC act as a president.
Vacancy
4).Powers and function of the president
1).Executive powers—a).All the Executive powers in the country of India taken from his name.
b).He appoints the PM of India and his ministers.
c).He appoints the Attorney general of India.
d).He appoints the comptroller and auditor general of india and the chairman and members of the election commission,union public service commission,finance commission,etc and also appoint governor of the state and many more.
e).He can seek any information related to the administration from the union.
f).He appoints the commission of SCs/STs and OBCs for investigate their position in the society or for welfare of them.
g).He also appoint the Inter-state council(under the article -263 )for better coordination between the centre -state or Inter states.
h).He directly administered the UTs through the administrator appoints by him.
i).He also decided the Schedule areas and has power to control the administration of schedule area.
2).Legislative powers—a).He can summon and prorogue the parliament and dissolved the Lok Sabha.He can also summons a joint setting of the parliament which presided by the speaker of Lok sabha.
b).He address the parliament at the commencement of the first session after the general election and the first session of every session.
c).He can appoint any member of the Lok Sabha for presided if the post of speaker and deputy speaker for vacant and similarly with the Rajya Sabha
d).He can nominates 12 members of the Rajya Sabha who have special knowledge or practical experiments I The field of literature,arts,science,social service,etc.
e).He can nominate 2 members of the Lok Sabha from the Anglo-Indian community Repaled in 104th CAA 2019.
f).His prior recommendations is also necessary for certain types of bills in the parliament such as related to money matters or alteration of the state boundaries or create a new state and Article 274..
g).When the bill given to the president for his assent then he can,
1.Give his assent to the bill,
2.withhold his assent to the bill,
3.Return the bill (except the money bill)for the reconsideration of the bill.
And ,If the bill send again for the president assent by the parliament with or without amendment then the president is obligatory for give his assent on the bill.
h).The governor of the state also reserved the state bill for the recommendation of the president then president have same options1,2,3.AbsoluteVeto)
But in this case,If the bill send again by the state legislature then the president is not obligatory for give his assent on the bill.
i).The president also issue the ordinance if the parliament is not in session approved within 6 weeks .
j).He can also make regulations for the peace,profit and good governance in the Andaman &Nicobar,Lakshadweep,Daman &Diu and Dadar & Nagar Haveli.
3).Financial powers—a).The prior recommendation is necessary for the money bills in the parliament.
b).The president also appoints the finance Commission Under the article 280 after the every five years for recommend the Distribution of revenue between the centre and states.
4).Judicial Powers— a).He can also appoint the CJI and the judge of SC and HC.
b).He can seek advice from the SC on any question and the president not binding to accept the advice.
c).He can also grant pardon,commutation,remission,respite or reprieve to the offence.
5).Diplomatic powers—The international treaties and agreement are negotiated on the behalf of the president.The president represent the India in the foreign affairs.
6).Military powers—The president is the supreme commander of the defence force of India.so,he can also appoint the chiefs of army,navy and Air Force.He also declare war by the approval of parliament.
7).Emergency powers—President of India also have extraordinary power to deal with the abnormal situations—National Emergency,President Rule,Financial Emergency,etc.
Veto power of the president
A bill passed by the parliament becomes an act if the president gave his assent on the bill.
Article 111–When the parliament present the bill for the assent of president on the bill then he have 3 alternatives—
a).He may give his assent on the bill,
b).He may withhold his assent on the bill,
c).He may also return the bill (if it is not a money bill) for reconsideration by the parliament.
And,If the bill send again by the parliament with or without amendment then the president is obligatory to give his assent on the bill.
Thus,the constitution of India also provide veto power on the bills for the president,such as withhold the assent on the bill.
There are mostly 4 types of veto in the modern states of the world—1).Absolute veto,2).Qualified veto,3).Suspensive veto,4).Pocket veto.
But,the president of India have only 3 types of veto-
1.Absolute veto-It refers the power of president to withhold the assent on the bill.So,the bill then ends and not become an act.Usually,The Absolute veto use on the following matters-
a).With respect to the private members bills(i.e bills passed by the members of parliament who is not a minister).
b).With respect to the govt.bills when cabinet resign then new govt, deny to gave the assent to the president.
In 1954,President D.R Rajender Prasad use this Absolute veto on the PEPSU appropriation Bill passed by the parliament.
In 1991,president R.venkataraman also use this veto on the salary,allowance and pension of MPs amendment bill passed by parliament.
2.Suspensive veto—The president exercise this veto when return the bill for The reconsider by the parliament,But if the parliament send the bill again for the assent then the president is obligatory to give his assent on the bill.(Except money bill).
3.Pocket veto —In this case,the president does not take any action on the bill and simply keep the bill into his pocket for an indefinite period.
In 1986,President Zail Singh use the pocket veto on the Indian post office(amendment) bill,which was passed under the Rajiv Gandhi govt.
Governor in respect of state legislature bill have one more option other than 3 options of president on the bill and it is that he can also reserve the bill for the recommendation of president.And, President have pocket veto on the state legislature bills.
According to the 24th amendment act,1971 president does not have power to use veto on the constitutional amendment bills,the president is obligatory to gave his assent on the constitutional amendment bills.
Ordinance making power of the president
Article 123–empowers the president to issue an ordinance when the parliament is not in the session.
The power of the president to issue ordinance is the most important to deal with the urgent matters but their are 4 limitations—
1).He can issue the ordinance only when both or either House of Parliament is not in the session.
2).He can make ordinance only when he satisfied that it is necessary to take urgent action on some matter.
3).(a).The president issue the ordinance only those subjects in which the parliament make laws.
(b). The ordinance issue the president is also under the basic structure of the constitution.
4).If the ordinance passed by the parliament when it reassemble then it become an act but if the parliament does not take any action for six week(maximum 6 months and 6 week) from the date it reassemble then the ordinance automatically suspended.
not discretionary power of president.
The ordinance issue on every subject under the union list except on the constitutional amendment.
Pardoning power of the president
Article 72–Empowers the president to grant pardon to the convicted person for any offence.such as
1.With respect to the union laws.
2.With respect to the court martial.
3.With respect to the death sentence.
The reason behind this power to the president are—to keep the choice to correct judiciary and to provide relief from the harsh punishment.
The pardoning powers of the president are—
A).Pardon—It removes all the sentences or convictions from the person and make him completely free from all the punishment and disqualification.
B).Commutation(exchange)—It changed the form of punishment and make it lighter form such as change the Death sentence into the life time imprisonment.
C).Remission(relaxation)—Under this,It reducing the period of sentence without changing the form of punishment.
D).Respite(Relax)—It denotes a lesser sentence against the original sentence due to the special facts such as physical disability of convict and the pregnancy of a woman offender.
E).Reprieve(temporary relax)—It implies a stay on execution of the sentence(mostly death sentence) for a temporary period.
Article 161– It Gives the power to the governor state to the grant pardon to for the any offence against the state laws.
The difference between the pardoning power of the president and governor are that—
1).The president also grant pardon on the court martial offender,while the governor do not.
2).The president also grant the pardon from the death sentence,while the governor do not.
Constitutional provisions of the president
The president of India is a nominal head of the state.
Thus,the president of India work with the aid and advise of the COMs headed by the PM.
But,There are also some discretionary power president,such as —
1).He can also appoint the PM if no one can prove the majority in the Lok Sabha or if PM die during his tenure.
2).He can also dismiss the COMs if they failed to prove its majority in the Lok Sabha.
3).He can also dissolve the Lok Sabha if the COMs lost its majority.
Factual information
1).D.R Rajendra prasad was the only President who elect twice in India.
2).The president DR Zakir Hussain and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed died during his tenure.
3).After the death of DR Zakir Hussain during his tenure the vice-president V.V giri act as a president and after sometime later when V.V giri resign from his post then the CJI became M Hidayatullah act as a president.
4).President N.sanjeeva ready win the election without any opposition member in 1977.
5).Ram Nath Kovind is the 14th President in the 15th election of president.