Lesson 6 – The Executive: Prime Minister Important Notes

 Lesson 6 – The Executive: Prime Minister

The Prime Minister

The Prime Minister occupies a pivotal position in the union executive. Unlike Britain where the Prime Minister does not enjoy any constitutional status, the office of the Prime Minister in the India has been created by the constitution. Article 74(1) of the constitution provides that “there shall be Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advice the President who shall, in the exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice.”

The prime minister is appointed by the President. However, the President has to appoint only such a person as Prime Minister who commands majority in the Lok Sabha. This means that if a single party has majority in Lok Sabha, its leader would naturally be appointed as Prime Minister.

 

Term of Prime Minister

Term of office Prime Minister holds office for a term of five years. However, if the life of the Lok Sabha is extended beyond five years, the term of the Prime Minister gets automatically extended. Similarly, if the Lok Sabha is dissolved before the expiry of it five years term, the term of the Prime Minister is automatically cut short.

Theoretically the Prime Minister holds office during the pleasure of the President, but actually he remains in office as long as he enjoys the confidence of the Lok Sabha. If he loses the confidence of the Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister must either tender his resignation or the President can dismiss him.

Salary and allowances

The Prime Minister gets a monthly salary and other allowances which are paid to members of parliament. He also receives constituency allowances at the same rate to which the MPs are entitled. In addition, the Prime Minister gets a sumptuary allowance per month. Over and above, he is entitled to free house, medical facilities and travelling allowances.

 

Power and functions of the Prime Minister

The Prime Minister as the Chief adviser of the president and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers enjoys very extensive functions and powers. The constitution acknowledges the primary position of the Prime Minister in the council of ministers by specifically providing that “there shall be Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head” to aid and advise the President.

It is well known fact that in Parliamentary system of government the Prime Minister is the Centre of executive and imparts content and meaning to the policies to the government.

The powers of the Prime Minister can be conveniently studied under the following categories:

1. In relation to the Council of Ministers: the prime minister occupies a key position in relation to the council of ministers. All members of the council of ministers are appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister.

After the council of ministers is constituted, it is the prerogative of the prime minister to allocate various portfolios among the ministers. He can also reshuffle these portfolios subsequently in the interest of administrative efficiency.

In case of difference of opinion between the prime minister and other ministers, the prime minister can either advise the minister to tender his resignation or recommend his dismissal to the president. As the Chairman of the council of ministers, the prime minister determines its agenda and proceedings, and influences the decisions of the council of ministers in a decisive manner. Above all, the prime minister co-ordinates the working of the various ministries and ensures that their policies programmes do not conflict.

2. In relation to the president: the prime minister is the chief channel of communication between the president and the council of ministers. According to the Article 78, it is the duty of the prime minister to communicate to the president all decisions of the council of ministers.

The prime minister is also duty bound to supply such information to the president regarding proposal of legislation and administration of the Union, as the president may call for.It is significant to note that no other member of the council of ministers is authorized to make any direct communication with the president unless he is so authorized.

The president acts on the advice of the prime minister with regard to the appointment of important officials like the Chief Justice of India, the judges of supreme court, the Chief justice and judges of the High Courts; Comptroller and Auditor General; Chairman and members of Union Public Service Commissioner; Election Commissioner; Governors; Chief of the Army, Navy, and Air Force; Ambassadors and High Commissioners and other officials.

3. In relation to the Parliament: the prime minister is intimately connected with the parliament. In fact, he is appointed as prime minister only because he is the leader of the majority party in Lok Sabha.

The prime minister has to justify the policy and programmes of his government in the floor of the parliament. In fact, all important policy announcements are made by the prime minister on the floor of the parliament.

After his appointment, prime minister and the council of ministers is collectively responsible to the parliament and stays in office as long as it enjoys the confidence of the majority of the members of Lok Sabha. The prime minister has to justify the policy and programmes of his government in the floor of the parliament.

The prime minister also exercises control over the time table of the house. Its sessions are convened and prorogued by the president on the advice of the prime minister. The president dissolves the Lok Sabha on the advice of the prime minister.

4. In relation to the party: prime minister is an important leader of the party and greatly influences its working and decisions. He keeps in constant touch with other important members of his party to ensure the party solidarity and support.

Prime minister is fully aware that the continued existence of his government depends on party support.

Therefore, he tries to maintain the best of relations and control over party leaders. Quite often the prime minister himself acts as the president of the party. But at present prime minister and the president of the party are separate.

It is a well-known fact that at times prime minister like Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Mrs. Indira Gandhi and Mr. Charan Singh, and Mr. Rajiv Gandhi were also the president of their political parties.

5. Conduct of international relation: the prime minister also plays an important role in conduct of international relations. Generally, the prime minister keeps the portfolio of external affairs with him.

Even if some other minister is in charge of this department, he works in complete co-operation with the prime minister and keeps him posted with all the recent developments. The prime minister represents the country in the various international conferences, and plays vital role in the conduct of country’s international relations.

6. Power of patronage: the president of India is head of the state while prime minister is the head of the government. He enjoys great power of patronage. Although the president of India is vested with many executive powers, in actual practice he or she acts only at the advice of the prime minister and the cabinet. All major appointments of the Union Government are virtually made by the prime minister and all the major decision making bodies like the Union Cabinet, Governor, and Chairmanship of various committees, planning commission (Niti Ayog), etc. Cabinet Committees function under his supervision and direction. The prime mister can elevate even the non-entities to the most important position.

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Position of the Prime Minister:

The Prime Minister no more remains the leader of the party in Parliament but becomes the leader of the Nation as a whole. He is the centre and focus of the people’s hope and aspirations. To the people at large he symbolizes the national government. He enjoys tremendous power and influences both in the executive and legislative sphere. As Head of the Council of Ministers he plays a decisive role in the formation and implementation of the policy by the various ministers.

In this respect the position of the Prime Minister in Great Britain and all those epithets which are used for the British Prime Minister are applicable to him as well. Some of these epithets are primus inter pares (first among equals), ‘steersman of the Ship of the State’, ‘the moon among the lesser stars’ and ‘sun around which all other planet revolves’.

In fact, the position of the Indian Prime Minister is superior to the position of the British Prime Minister in so far as Indian Prime Minister’s office enjoys a constitutional basis and is not a product of the convention.

It may be further observed that the position of the Indian Prime Minister, like that of the British Prime Minister, depends on his personality, the position of his party in the parliament and his own position within the party.

 

Prime Minister and the President

According to the characteristics and convention of the Parliamentary democracy President is supposed to be only a constitutional head. All the executive powers lie with the prime minister and his cabinet and President is just a nominal executive. Therefore, the President being the nominal executive can only function with the aid and advice of the real executive, i.e., the prime minister and his Council of Ministers.

The Prime Minister no power to dislodge the President except through impeachment, which requires special majority in both Houses of Parliament. The President has several ways of conveying his displeasure to the Prime Minister. Article 74 lays down that the Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers are to aid and advice the President of India. It says that the President shall in the exercise of his functions act in accordance with such advice.

According to the Article 78 of the constitution it shall be the duty of the Prime Minister to communicate to the President all decisions of the Council of Ministers relating the administration of the affairs of the Union and proposals of the legislation. This makes Prime Minister a link between the President and the Cabinet and Chief advisor of the President.

There were major ideological differences between President Rajendra Prasad and prime minister Pundit Nehru over certain appointments of highest State officials and even Governors and Ambassador. Through the daily newspaper President came to know about the appointments and the president protested against such practices of ignoring the president, because it was setting bad precedents.

In 1960, President Rajendra Prasad even asked the constitution experts to re-examine the powers of the president in the Indian Constitution. Again, relation between President Giani Zail Singh and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi strained, because the President complained that he was ignored and side lined by Prime Minister Mr. Rajiv Gandhi and had been kept in the dark and not being informed about many important state matters despite constitutional provisions and also in pursuance of the convention followed by all previous prime ministers, in their relation with President. Though Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi denied this allegation.

Theoretically speaking it may be violation of the article 78, for it carries the word ‘duty’, which implies it is the duty of the Prime Minister to consult the President. Fortunately, or unfortunately no president so far has made an issue of this, hence Article 78 has not been tested. Mostly, the other presidents like Zakir Hussain, V.V. Giri, F.A. Ahmed, R. Venkataraman, Sankar Dayal Sharma stuck to their constitutional role and the relations between them and the Prime Minister did not enter into any controversy. President Zail Singh also did not give his assent to the Indian post office amendment bill in 1986. President Zail Singh withheld his assent on the ground that the Act would violate the privacy of citizens.

Which was again refused by President R. Venkatraman, and he returned the bill with suggestions for amendment on 7th January 1990. The Janata Dal government did not pursue the matter.1 President K.R. Narayan also sent back the Cabinet’s advice to impose article 356 or President Rule in states for reconsideration. President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam again in many cases earned the wrath of the Prime Minister on many occasions.

Some of his official visits were not appreciated like- his official visit to riot-hit Gujrat was not appreciated by the Government. The president also sent back the poll ordinance for reconsideration but had to sign it after it was passed for the second time. He also sent back office of profit bill in 2006. during Pratibha Devi Patil’s tenure there has been no friction between government and the President.1 Thus there have been arisen questions about president’s acting independently in cases of fluid situations or cabinet having lost majorities. Unless some definite conventions are established for such eventualities this may prove quite dangerous for Parliamentary Democracy.

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