Most Important Topics for Prelims 2023

Part 2
Minorities in India

• Centre’s shifting stands on who can grant minority status

left the Supreme Court displeased even as the political
push for giving Hindus the ‘minority’ tag in as many as
10 States where the religious community is numerically
low turns increasingly strident.
• On March 25, the Ministry of Minority Affairs, in an
affidavit, told the court that both the Centre and States
had “concurrent power” to notify minorities.
• It had even said that States could also recognise a
community as a minority at the individual State level.
Minorities in India

• “States can also declare a religious or linguistic

community as a minority community within the said
State,” the Ministry had said.
• Hardly two months later, a “superseding” affidavit filed
by the same Ministry on May 9, reversed its own position.
• This time, the Ministry claimed that the Centre alone was
vested with the power to notify a minority community.
• The three-page affidavit said Section 2(f) and Section 2(c)
of the National Commission for Minorities Educational
Institutions Act, 2004, and the National Commission for
Minorities Act, 1992, respectively, passed by the
Parliament, empowered the Centre to notify a minority
community.
Minorities in India

• Article 29:
• It provides that any section of the citizens residing in
any part of India having a distinct language, script or
culture of its own, shall have the right to conserve the
same.
• It grants protection to both religious minorities as
well as linguistic minorities.
• However, the SC held that the scope of this article is
not necessarily restricted to minorities only, as use of
the word ‘section of citizens’ in the Article includes
minorities as well as the majority.
Minorities in India

• Article 30:
• All minorities shall have the right to establish and
administer educational institutions of their choice.
• The protection under Article 30 is confined only to
minorities (religious or linguistic) and does not
extend to any section of citizens (as under Article 29).
Minorities in India

• Article 350-B:
• The 7th Constitutional (Amendment) Act
1956 inserted this article which provides for a Special
Officer for Linguistic Minorities appointed by the
President of India.
• It would be the duty of the Special Officer to
investigate all matters relating to the safeguards
provided for linguistic minorities under the
Constitution.
Minorities in India

• Q. In India, if a religious sect/community is given the

status of a national minority, what special advantages it
is entitled to? (2011)

• It can establish and administer exclusive educational

institutions.
• The President of India automatically nominates a
representative of the community to Lok Sabha.
• It can derive benefits from the Prime Minister’s 15-
Point Programme.
• Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

• (a) 1 only
 Minorities in India
Q. In India, if a religious sect/community is given the
status of a national minority, what special advantages it is
entitled to? (2011)
1. It can establish and administer exclusive educational
institutions.
2. The President of India automatically nominates a
representative of the community to Lok Sabha.
3. It can derive benefits from the Prime Minister’s 15-
Point Programme.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Writs
 • Ordered by the court to a person who has detained another
Habeas person, to produce the body of the latter before it to examine the
cause and legality of detention.
Corpus-
• It can be issued against both public authorities as well as private
‘To have individuals.
the body • It is not issued where the (a) detention is lawful, (b) the
of’ proceeding is for contempt of a legislature or a court, (c)
detention is by a competent court, and (d) detention is outside
the jurisdiction of the court.
• It is a command issued by the court to a public official asking
him to perform his official duties that he has failed or refused to
perform.
• It can also be issued against any public body, a corporation, an
inferior court, a tribunal or government for the same purpose.
Mandamus-
• It cannot be issued (a) against a private individual or body; (b)
‘We
to enforce departmental instruction that does not possess
Command’ statutory force; (c) when the duty is discretionary and not
mandatory; (d) to enforce a contractual obligation; (e) against the
president of India or the state governors; and (f) against the chief
justice of a high court acting in judicial capacity.
 • It is issued by a higher court to a lower court or tribunal to
prevent the latter from exceeding its jurisdiction or usurping a
Prohibitio jurisdiction that it does not possess.
n- ‘To • Can be issued only against judicial and quasi- judicial
forbid’ authorities.
• It is not available against administrative authorities, legislative
bodies, and private individuals or bodies.

• It is issued by a higher court to a lower court or tribunal either to

transfer a case pending with the latter to itself or to squash the
Certiorari- order of the latter in a case on rounds of excess of jurisdiction or
‘To be lack of jurisdiction or error of law.
Certified/ • It can be issued against judicial, quasi-judicial authorities and
informed’ administrative authorities (since 1991).
• It is also not available against legislative bodies and private
individuals or bodies.
 • It is issued by the court to enquire into the legality of claim
of a person to a public office.
• It can be issued only in case of a substantive public office
Quo- of a permanent character created by a statute or by the
Warranto- Constitution.
‘By what • It cannot be issued in cases of ministerial office or private
authority’ office. Unlike the other four writs, this can be sought by
any interested person and not necessarily by the aggrieved
person.
Directive Principles of State Policy

Amended DPSP’s
42nd Constitutional Amendment, 1976:
• Article 39A: To provide free legal aid to the poor.
• Article 43A: Participation of workers in management of
Industries.K1M
• Article 48A: To protect and improve the environment.
44th Constitutional Amendment, 1978: It inserted Section-
2 to Article 38 which declares that; “The State in particular
shall strive to minimize economic inequalities in income
and eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and
opportunities not amongst individuals but also amongst
groups”.
Directive Principles of State Policy

Amended DPSP’s
86th Amendment Act of 2002:
It changed the subject-matter of Article 45 and made
elementary education a fundamental right under Article 21
A (TAPAS MAJUMDAR COMMITTEE).
• 97th Amendment Act 2011 :
Article 43B
The State shall endeavor to promote voluntary formation,
autonomous functioning, democratic control and
professional management of co-operative societies.
Inter State Council

• Recently, the Inter-State Council(ISC) has been

reconstituted with the Prime Minister as Chairman and
Chief Ministers of all States and six Union Ministers as
members.
• The Inter-State Council will have ten permanent invitees:
ten union ministers.
Inter State Council

• The government has also reconstituted the Inter-State

Council's standing committee, with Union Home as
Chairman.
• The Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar,
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh
are also members of the Inter-State Council's standing
committee.
 Inter-State Council:
• Article 263 contemplates the establishment of an Inter-State
Council to effect coordination between the states and
between Centre and states.
• The President can establish such a council if at any time it
appears to him that the public interest would be served by
its establishment. He can define the nature of duties to be
performed by such a council and its organisation and
procedure.

First suggested by the The Sarkaria

Administrative Commission on Centre- The Janata Dal
Reforms State Relation (1983-87) Government headed
made a strong case for the by V. P. Singh
Commission to establishment of a established the Inter-
promote cooperative permanent Inter-State State Council in 1990.
Federalism. Council.
• Even though the President is empowered to define the duties
of an inter- state council, Article 263 specifies the duties that
can be assigned to it in the following manner:

Enquiring into and advising upon disputes which may

arise between states;

Investigating and discussing subjects in which the states

or the Centre and the states have a common interest; and

Making recommendations upon any such subject, and

particularly for the better co-ordination of policy and
action on it.
 Composition of the ISC:
• The present composition of the Council is as follows:
• Prime Minister Chairman
• Chief Ministers of all States Members
• Chief Ministers of Union Territories having a Legislative
Assembly and Administrators of UTs not having a Legislative
Assembly and Governors of States under President’s Rule as
Members
• Six Ministers of Cabinet rank including Home Minister in the
Union Council of Ministers to be nominated by the Prime
Minister as Members
• Five Ministers of Cabinet rank / Minister of State (independent charge)
nominated by the Chairman of the Council (i.e., Prime Minister) are
permanent invitees to the Council.
 Composition of the ISC:
• The Council is assisted by a secretariat called the Inter-State
Council Secretariat.
• This secretariat was set-up in 1991 and is headed by a
secretary to the Government of India. Since 2011, it is also
functioning as the secretariat of the Zonal Councils.
Emergency Provisions
Rule 267 of Rajya Sabha

• The Rajya Sabha rule book defines “Rule 267” under

“suspension of rules” as an instance where “any Member,
may, with the consent of the Chairman, move that any rule
may be suspended in its application to a motion related to the
business listed before the council of that day and if the
motion is carried, the rule in question shall be suspended for
the time-being.”
Pardoning power of President / Governor

• Supreme Court (SC) held that the Governor’s power to

pardon overrides Section 433A of Code of Criminal
Procedure (CrPC).
• Earlier in January 2021, in a case of mercy petition, the
SC noted that the Governor cannot reject the state’s
recommendation but there is no time prescribed to take
a decision.
Pardoning power of President / Governor

• Pardoning Power Overrides 433A:

• SC held that the Governor of a State can pardon

prisoners, even before they have served a minimum
14 years of prison sentence.
• The Governor's power to pardon overrides a
provision in the CrPC Section 433A which mandates
that a prisoner’s sentence can be remitted only after
14 years of jail.
Pardoning power of President / Governor

• Section 433A states that where a sentence of

imprisonment for life is imposed on conviction of
a person for an offence for which death is one of
the punishments provided by law, or where a
sentence of death imposed on a person has been
commuted under section 433 into one of
imprisonment for life, such person shall not be
released from prison unless he had served at least
fourteen years of imprisonment.
• Section 433-A cannot and does not in any way affect
the constitutional power conferred on the
President/Governor to grant pardon under Articles
72 or 161 of the Constitution.
Pardoning power of President / Governor
Pardoning power of President / Governor
Parliamentary Privileges and Privileges
Committee
• Privileges Committee
• Lok Sabha – 15 members
• Rajya Sabha – 10 members
• Nominated by presiding officers
• Breach of Privilege versus Contempt of House
Parliamentary Privileges and Privileges
Committee
 Parliamentary privileges can be classified into two
broad categories:

Collective Privileges: These privileges that belong to each House of Parliament collectively are:
1. In has the right to publish its reports, debates and proceedings and also the right to prohibit others
from publishing the same. The 44th Amendment Act of 1978 restored the freedom of the press to
publish true reports of parliamentary proceedings without prior permission of the House. But this is
not applicable in the case of a secret sitting of the House.
2. It can exclude strangers from its proceedings and hold secret sittings to discuss some important
matters.
3. It can make rules to regulate its own procedure and the conduct of its business and to adjudicate
upon such matters.
4. It can punish members as well as outsiders for breach of its privileges or its contempt by
reprimand, admonition or imprisonment (also suspension or expulsion, in case of members).
5. It has the right to receive immediate information of the arrest, detention, conviction, imprisonment
and release of a member.
6. It can institute inquiries and order the attendance of witnesses and send for relevant papers and
records.
7. The courts are prohibited to inquire into the proceedings of a House or its committees.
8. No person (either a member or outsider) can be arrested, and no legal process (civil or criminal) can
be served within the precincts of the House without the permission of the presiding officer.
Parliamentary privileges can be classified into two
broad categories:

Individual Privileges: The privileges belonging to

the members individually are:
1. They cannot be arrested during the session of
Parliament and 40 days before the beginning and
40 days after the end of a session. This privilege is
available only in civil cases and not in criminal
cases or preventive detention cases. (Section 55 of
cpc)
[Link] have freedom of speech in Parliament. No
member is liable to any proceedings in any court
for anything said or any vote given by him in
Parliament or its committees. This freedom is
subject to the provisions of the Constitution and to
the rules and standing orders regulating the
procedure of Parliament.
3. They are exempted from jury service. They can
refuse to give evidence and appear as a witness in
a case pending in a court when Parliament is in
session.
• The Indian Parliament, till now, has not made any special
law to exhaustively codify all the privileges.

Constitutional provisions,

Various laws made by

Parliament,

They are based on five

Rules of both the Houses,
sources, namely:

Parliamentary conventions

Judicial Interpretations
Suspension of MP/MLA
• Recently, Lok Sabha has suspended four (Member of Parliament) MPs and
Rajya Sabha also suspended 23 MPs as they were disrupting the
proceedings of the house.
Rules of Procedure and Conduct:
• Rule 373: The Speaker can direct a member to withdraw immediately
from the House if he finds the member's conduct disorderly.
• Members so ordered to withdraw shall do so forthwith and shall remain
absent during the remainder of the day’s sitting.
• Rule 374: The Speaker can name a member who disregards the authority
of the Chair or abuses the rules of the House by persistently and wilfully
obstructing the business thereof.
• And the member so named will be suspended from the House for a
period not exceeding the remainder of the session.
• A member suspended under this rule shall forthwith withdraw from the
precincts of the House.”
Suspension of MP/MLA
• Rule 374A: Rule 374A was incorporated in the Rule Book in
December 2001.
• In case of gross violation or severe charges, on being named by the
Speaker, the member stands automatically suspended from the
service of the House for five consecutive sittings or the remainder of
the session, whichever is less.
• Rule 255 (Rajya Sabha): Under Rule 255 of the General Rules of
Procedure of the Rajya Sabha, the presiding officer of the House can
invoke suspension of the Member of Parliament.
• The Chairman as per this rule can direct any member whose
conduct in his opinion was not right or was disorderly.
• Rule 256 (Rajya Sabha): It provides for suspension of members.
• The Chairman can suspend a member from the service of the
Council for a period not exceeding the remainder of the Session.
Suspension of MP/MLA
• Rule 374A: Rule 374A was incorporated in the Rule Book in
December 2001.
• In case of gross violation or severe charges, on being named by the
Speaker, the member stands automatically suspended from the
service of the House for five consecutive sittings or the remainder of
the session, whichever is less.
• Rule 255 (Rajya Sabha): Under Rule 255 of the General Rules of
Procedure of the Rajya Sabha, the presiding officer of the House can
invoke suspension of the Member of Parliament.
• The Chairman as per this rule can direct any member whose
conduct in his opinion was not right or was disorderly.
• Rule 256 (Rajya Sabha): It provides for suspension of members.
• The Chairman can suspend a member from the service of the
Council for a period not exceeding the remainder of the Session.
 Disqualifications:
1. if he holds any office of profit under the Union or state
government (except that of a minister or any other office exempted
by Parliament).

2. if he is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a court.

Under the
Constitution, a
person shall be 3. if he is an undischarged insolvent.
disqualified for
being elected as
MP: 4. if he is not a citizen of India or has voluntarily acquired the
citizenship of a foreign state or is under any acknowledgement of
allegiance to a foreign State.

5. if he is so disqualified under any law made by Parliament.

• The Parliament has laid down the following additional disqualifications in the
Representation of People Act (1951):
1. He must not have been found guilty of certain election offences or corrupt practices in the
elections.
2. He must not have been convicted for any offence resulting in imprisonment for two or
more years. But, the detention of a person under a preventive detention law is not a
disqualification.
3. He must not have failed to lodge an account of his election expenses within the time.
4. He must not have any interest in government contracts, works or services.
5. He must not be a director or managing agent nor hold an office of profit in a corporation in
which the government has at least 25 per cent share.
6. He must not have been dismissed from government service for corruption or disloyalty to
the State.
7. He must not have been convicted for promoting enmity between different groups or for the
offence of bribery.
8. He must not have been punished for preaching and practising social crimes such as
untouchability, dowry and sati.
• On the question whether a member is subject to any of the above
disqualifications, the president’s decision is final. However, he should obtain
the opinion of the election commission and act accordingly.
Defection and Disqualification:
• The anti-defection law is contained in the 10th Schedule
of the Constitution. It was enacted by Parliament in 1985
and came into effect on 1st March 1985.
• For a long time, the Indian political scene was
besmirched by political defections by members of the
legislature. This situation brought about greater
instability in the political system.
• The infamous “Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram” slogan was
coined against the background of continuous defections
by the legislators. The purpose of the law is to curb
political defection by the legislators.
• The anti-defection law deals with situations of defection
in Parliament or state legislatures by: (i) members of a
political party, (ii) independent members, and (iii)
nominated members.
Governor
Union Territory and Delhi Special Case

• 69th Constitutional Amendment Act and tussle in Delhi

over control of postings and transfers of civil servants
belonging to All India Services serving in Delhi.
• The status of Delhi being a Union Territory under
Schedule 1 of the Constitution but named the ‘National
Capital Territory’ under Article 239AA, engrafted by the
Constitution (69th Amendment) Act.
• The 69th amendment to the Constitution of India inserted
Article 239AA, which declared the Union Territory of
Delhi to be administered by a L-G who works on aid and
advice of the elected legislative assembly.
• However, the ‘aid and advice’ clause pertains only to
matters on which the elected Assembly has powers under
the State and Concurrent Lists With the exception of public
order, police, and land.
• Further, the Article 239AA also notes that L-G has to either
act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, or he
is bound to implement the decision taken by the President
on a reference being made by him.
• Also, Article 239AA, empowers the L-G to refer a
difference of opinion on ‘any matter’ with the Council of
Ministers to the President.
GNCTD Act 2021
• It amended Sections 21, 24, 33 and 44 of the GNCT of Delhi
Act, 1991
• According to the legislation, the "government" in Delhi means
the "Lieutenant Governor."
• The city government will now mandatorily have to take the
opinion of the L-G before taking any executive action.
• The Act defines the responsibilities of the elected government
and the L-G along with the “constitutional scheme of
governance of the NCT” interpreted by the Supreme Court in
recent judgements regarding the division of powers between
the two entities.
GNCTD Act 2021
• It will also seek to ensure that the L-G is “necessarily granted
an opportunity” to exercise powers entrusted to him under
proviso to clause (4) of Article 239AA of the Constitution.
• This particular clause provides for a Council of Ministers
headed by a Chief Minister for the NCT to “aid and advise the
Lieutenant Governor” in the exercise of his functions for
matters in which the Legislative Assembly has the power to
make laws.
• It will also provide for rules made by the Legislative Assembly
of Delhi to be “consistent with the rules of the House of the
People” or the Lok Sabha.
Electoral Bonds
• Prelims Facts about Electoral Bonds :
ØRedeemable within 15 days
ØEligibility – Registered Political parties who have secured
at least 1% votes in last Lok Sabha, State Assembly
elections.
ØNo upper limit on number of bonds that can be purchased
ØNon encashed amount is deposited in PM Relief Fund.
Criminal Procedure Identification Act 2022

• Passed in April 2022 and came into effect in August

2022.
• Replaces Identification of Prisoners Act 2020
authorising police officers to take measurements of
people convicted, arrested or facing trial.
Criminal Procedure Identification Act 2022

• List of details that can be collected :

• (i) palm-print impressions, (ii) iris and retina scans, (iii)
behavioural attributes such as signature and handwriting,
and (iv) other physical and biological samples such as
blood, semen, hair samples, and swabs, and their
analysis.
Criminal Procedure Identification Act 2022

• Persons whose details may be taken :

• all convicts, arrested persons, as well as persons detained
under any preventive detention law.
• Arrested persons will not be obliged to give their
biological samples unless they have committed an offence
against a woman or a child, or an offence punishable with
a minimum of seven years of imprisonment.
Criminal Procedure Identification Act 2022

• Retention of details:
The details collected to be retained in digital or electronic
form for 75 years from the date of collection.
The record may be destroyed in case of persons who: (i)
have not been previously convicted, and (ii) are released
without trial, discharged, or acquitted by the court, after
exhausting all legal remedies
Criminal Procedure Identification Act 2022

• Resistance to give details

Will be considered an offence under the Indian Penal Code,
1860
Permits the collection of details about specified persons by
either a prison officer (not below the rank of Head Warder),
or a police officer (in charge of a police station, or at least at
the rank of a Head Constable).
Rule-making power extended to the central government: