Chapter 4

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Legislature, executive and judiciary are the three organs of Together, they perform the
functions of the government
In a parliamentary system, executive and the legislature are interdependent: the
legislature controls the executive, and, in turn, is controlled by the
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.
There are two type of executive – Political and permanent executive
Permanent executive are responsible for day to day E.g. Bureaucrats
Every country may not have the same type of USA has a presidential system and
executive powers are in the hands of the president. In France, both the president and
the prime minister are a part of the semi-presidential system.
In a presidential system, the president is the Head of state as well as head of
government. In this system the office of president is very powerful, both in theory and
practice. Countries with such a system include the United States, Brazil and most
nations in Latin America

Types of Executive

Parliamentary System Presidential system

The head of government is In this system, the In the Presidential system the
known as Prime Minister. president is the head president is the head of state as
of state well as the head of government

He is the leader of the In this system, Prime The president is usually directly
majority party in the Minister is the Head elected by the people.
legislature. of the government

He is accountable to the PM and his council He is not accountable to

The head of state may be a · E.g.- France E.g: USA

In a parliamentary system, the prime minister is the head of government. Most parliamentary
systems have a president or a monarch who is the nominal Head of

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PARLIAMENTARY EXECUTIVE IN INDIA
When the Constitution of India was written, India already had some experience of
running the parliamentary system under the Acts of 1919 and 1935
Constitution adopted the parliamentary system of executive for the governments both
at the national and State
In parliamentary system of executive, there is a President who is the formal Head of
the state of India and the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, which run the
government at the national level.
At the State level, the executive comprises the Governor and the Chief Minister and
Council of Ministers.
The Constitution of India vests the executive power of the Union formally in the
President. In reality, the president exercises these powers through the Council of
Ministers headed by the Prime Minister.

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 – President can be removed from office only by Parliament by following the procedure
for impeachment (Special Majority is required)
– only ground for impeachment is violation of the Constitution..

– Power and position of President :-

o Article 74 (1): 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.

o In a parliamentary system, these powers are in reality used by the President only on
the advice of the Council of Ministers

o In most of the cases, the President has to follow the advice of the Council of
Ministers, as they are real executive

o President exercises his powers only on the advice of the Council of Ministers.

Powers of President

· Executive,Legislative,Judicial,Emergency

Discretionary Powers of the President

· Constitutional :- Prime Minister is obliged to furnish all the information that the
President may call for

Situational :-

o President can send back the advice given by the Council of Ministers and ask the
Council to reconsider the decision

o President also has veto power by which he can withhold or refuse to give assent to
Bills (other than Money Bill) passed by the Parliament. Every bill passed by the
Parliament goes to the President for his assent before it becomes a law.

o When no party gets clear majority in election, President has the additional
responsibility of making a choice and appointing the Prime Minister to run the
government of the country.

Council of Ministers is headed by the Prime

Therefore, as head of the Council of Ministers, the Prime Minister becomes the
most important functionary of the government in our country

In the parliamentary form of executive, it is essential that the Prime Minister has the
support of the majority in the Lok Sabha
The moment this support of the majority is lost, the Prime Minister loses the
The Prime Minister and all the ministers have to be members of the Parliament.

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Prime Minister or Ministers can be member of Any house of parliament(Rajya Sabha or
Lok Sabha).
Prime Minister then decides who will be the ministers in the Council of The Prime
Minister allocates ranks and portfolios to the ministers. In the same manner, Chief
Ministers of the States choose ministers from their own party or coalition.
If someone becomes a minister or Prime Minister without being an MP, such a person
has to get elected to the Parliament within six months.

Size of the Council of Ministers :- 91th constitutional amendment act 2003, state that
Council of Ministers shall not exceed 15 percent of total number of members of the
House of the People (or Assembly, in the case of the States).
The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. This provision
means that a Ministry which loses confidence of the Lok Sabha is obliged to resign.
Vote of no confidence even against a single minister leads to the resignation of the
entire Council of In India, the Prime Minister enjoys a pre-eminent place in the
The Council of Ministers cannot exist without the Prime Minister.
The Council comes into existence only after the Prime Minister has taken the oath of
the death or resignation of the Prime Minister automatically brings about the dissolution
of the Council of Ministers but the demise, dismissal or resignation of a minister
The Prime Minister acts as a link between the Council of Ministers on the one hand and
the President as well as the Parliament
It is also the constitutional obligation of the Prime Minister to communicate to the
President all decisions of the Council of Ministers relating to the administration of the
affairs of the Union and proposals for

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