Executives

Executives
In a democracy, the government is divided into three organs:
● Executive
● Judiciary
● Legislature
Executive is the organ of government which is responsible for the
implementation of laws and policies adopted by the legislative.

Political Executive:
Political Executive is formed by representatives elected by the people. In India
the President, Prime Minister and Council of Ministers form the Political
Executive.
Permanent Executive:
Permanent Executive is formed by officers and employees of civil services or
bureaucracy. They have fixed tenure.
Functions of Executive:
● To implement the policies of the government and to implement the laws
made by the legislative bodies.
● The executives assist the government in the law making process.
● The executive conducts the relationship with the states.
● Executes various types of treaties and agreements.
Types of Executive in world:
● Actual Executive (UK and India)
● Nominal Executive (President of India and Emperor of Britain)
● Single Executive (President of USA)
● Majority Executive (Switzerland)
● Paternal Executive (Great Britain by Lineage)
● Elected Executive (India and US)
● Parliamentary Executive( UK, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada)
 ● Presidential Executive( USA, Brazil, Latin America)
● Semi Presidential Executive( India, France,Russia, Sri Lanka)
Presidential System:
● In a presidential system, the President is the head of both the country
and government. In this system the office of president is very powerful
in theory and in practice. This system is found in many countries like
the USA, Brazil and Latin America.
● There is a presidential system in America and executive powers are
with the president.
Parliamentary System:
● In a parliamentary system, The Prime Minister is the head of
government, in this system there is a president or King who is the
nominal head of the country. The Prime Minister has real power. This
system is in countries like India, Italy,Japan, England, Portugal etc.
● Germany has a parliamentary system in which the President is head of
the country and The Chancellor is the head of government.
● Italy has a parliamentary system in which The president is head of the
country and the Prime minister is the head of government.
● Japan has a parliamentary system in which the King is the head of the
country and the Prime Minister is the head of government.
● Canada has a parliamentary democracy and Constitutional monarchy in
which the Queen is the head of Country and Prime Minister is the head
of the government.
Semi-Presidential System:
● In the Semi-Presidential system, there is both The President and Prime
Minister, but in this, the president can get more important powers in the
conduct of daily affairs.There is similar system in France, Russia and
Sri Lanka.
● Russia has a semi-presidential system in which the President is the
head of the country and the Prime Minister appointed by the President
is the head of government.
● In France, the President and the Prime Minister are part of the semi-
presidential system.The president appoints the Prime Minister and
other ministers but cannot remove them as they are responsible to the
parliament.
Parliamentary Executive In India:
● Our Constitution makers wanted that the government should be such
that it is sensitive and responsive to the expectation of people this was
possible only in the Parliamentary system.
● In this system in India, the President is the ceremonial head and the
Prime Minister and the council of ministers run the government at
national level. At the state level, the Governor, the Chief Minister and
Council of Ministers together form the executive.
Reasons for Parliamentary System in India:
1. India has some experience of running a parliamentary system under
the act of 1919 and 1935 before the Independence.
2. Parliamentary system is simple compared to the presidential system.
3. The Indian Constitution makers wanted the government to be
responsible and accountable.
4. In the Parliamentary system the government works according to public
expectations.
President:
● The President is the head of the state.
● He is elected by the elected members of parliament and state
legislative assemblies for five years.
● He can be removed from his office before expiry of his tenure by
passing an impeachment motion against him.
● Impeachment motion can be introduced in parliament against the
president if the president is not working according to the constitution.
● The President is the formal head of the government.
● Although the President has wide executive, legislature, Judicial and
emergency powers, but in a parliamentary system, these powers are
actually used by the president only on the advice of the council of
ministers.(Article 74)
● The Prime Minister and Council of ministers have support of the
majority in the Lok Sabha and they are real executives.
Qualification for President:
● Minimum age for President should be 35 years
● Tenure of President is 5 year
● Any former President can run for re-election
Discretionary powers of the President:
1. President has a right to be informed of all important matters and
deliberations of the council of ministers.
2. President can send back the advice given by the council of ministers
and ask the council to reconsider the decision.
3. The president also Veto power by which he can withhold or refuse to
give assent to bills passed by parliament. Every bill passed by the
parliament goes to the president for his assent. President can send
back the bill to the parliament and ask it to reconsider the bill but if the
parliament passes the same bill again and sends it back to the
president, then the president has to give assent or sign that bill. There
is no time mentioned in the constitution for the president to give assent
or not. This means that the president can just keep the bill pending with
him without any time limit.This is sometimes referred to as Pocket
Veto.
 4. Formally the president appoints the prime minister. Normally a leader
who has the support of majority in the Lok Sabha would be appointed
as PM but when after the election no leader has a clear majority in the
Lok Sabha and two or Three leaders claiming for the PM then the
president has to decide whom to appoint as the Prime Minister.
Impeachment process of President:
● To remove the president from his office, he is impeached, this is done
when president is not working according to the constitution or in
violation of the constitution.
● Impeachment Motion of the president can be introduced in any House
of the Parliament.
● It requires more than two-thirds of the majority in the House of
proposal. If this motion gets more than two-thirds of the majority, then
the charge against it is investigated by the other house.
● President will depart from his office if other allegations in the House
accept the two-thirds majority.
Note : No President has been impeached till now.
Vice President Of India:
Vice President does all the things in the absence of the President
● The Vice President is elected by all members of parliament for 5 years.
● The Vice President can be removed from his office by a resolution of
Rajya Sabha passed by a majority and agreed to by Lok Sabha.
● The Vice President acts as the Chairman of Rajya Sabha and acts as
the President when there is a vacancy by reason of death, resignation,
removal by impeachment.
● The Vice President acts as the president only until a new president is
elected.
Election of Vice President:
● The Vice-President is elected by the single transferable vote system.
This is different from the presidential election. In this only both the
houses of parliament take part, the legislature has no role.
● The oath of the Vice-President is administered by the President of
India.
Prime Minister and Council Of Ministers:
● The Prime Minister is the leader of the majority party in the Lok Sabha.
As soon as he loses the majority he also loses his position.
● The Prime Minister is the head of the Council of Ministers, who decides
who will be the minister in his cabinet.
● The Prime Minister who allocates the ranks and ministries of various
ministers.
● It is mandatory for the Prime Minister and all the ministers to be
members of the Parliament. If a person becomes the minister or Prime
 minister without being a member of parliament, he has to be elected as
a member of parliament (either House) within 6 months.
Size of Cabinet:
● By the 91st constitutional amendment the number of members of the
cabinet should not exceed 15% of the total number of members of Lok
Sabha or the legislative assembly of state.
● The cabinet is accountable to the Lok Sabha. This means the
government which loses confidence in the Lok Sabha has to
resign.This shows Unity of Cabinet. Its spirit is that if a no-confidence
motion is passed against a single minister, then the entire cabinet has
to resign.
Value of Prime Minister:
● The PM is paramount in government. The entire cabinet comes into
existence only when the PM takes the oath of office. The entire cabinet
is dissolved by the death or resignation of the Prime Minister.
● The Prime minister acts as a bridge between the Cabinet and the
President.
● He informs the President about the administration of federal affairs and
proposed laws.
Nature of executives in states:
● The state has a governor who is (on the advice of the central
government) appointed by the president.
● The Chief Minister is the leader of the majority party in the legislative
assembly.
● All other principles are the same which are applicable to the
parliamentary system in the central government.
Permanent Executives( Bureaucracy):
● The executive mainly consists of the President, The Prime Minister,
Minister and a large organisation of bureaucratic or administrative
machinery, also known as Civil Services.
● Trained and proficient officers working as permanent employees of the
government in the bureaucracy assist the ministers formulating policies
and implementing them.
● An efficient administrative machinery exists in India but this machinery
is politically not responsible which means that bureaucracy is politically
neutral. In a democracy, governments keep coming and going. In such
situations, it is the responsibility of administrative machinery to help
new governments in formulating their policies and implementing them.
● The bureaucracy includes the all India services, provincial services,
employees of local government and technical and managerial officers
of public undertakings.The task of recruiting of members of the Civil
Services in India is entrusted to the Union Public Service
Commission(UPSC)
● The tenure of the public service commission is fixed; they can be
suspended or removed only on the basis of inquiry conducted by the
supreme court of India.
● The appointment of public servants is done on the basis of skill and
merit. The constitution has given opportunity to all sections of society
along with backward classes to become government bureaucracy, for
this constitution has the provision for reservation.