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PRESIDENT

Head of the Indian State

First citizen of India

Elected by the members of electoral college consisting of:

 the elected members of both the Houses of Parliament;

 the elected members of the legislative assemblies of the states;
 the elected members of the legislative assemblies of the Union Territories of Delhi and
Puducherry.

Qualification

 Citizen of India
 35 years of age
 He should be qualified for election as a member of the Lok Sabha.

Term

 5 years
 Gives resignation letter to the Vice President.
 Hold office beyond his term of five years until his successor assumes charge
 Eligible for re-election to that office – can be elected any number of times

Vacancy in the President’s Office

 Expiry of term of 5 years: outgoing president continues till new president comes
 Resignation, removal, death: election should be held within six months from the date of the
occurrence of such a vacancy - Vice-President acts as the President until a new President is
elected - Chief Justice of India, the seniormost judge of the Supreme Court.

Powers

Executive

 He appoints the prime minister and the other ministers – pleasure of President
 He appoints the attorney general of India – pleasure of President
 Appoint an inter-state council.

Legislative

 Nominates 12 members of the Rajya Sabha

 Decides on questions as to disqualifications of members of the Parliament, in consultation
with the Election Commission.
 Passage of bills: If the bill again passed by the Parliament has to give assent
 In the state: It is not necessary – absolute veto by president
 Promulgate ordinances when the Parliament is not in session - Article 123

Financial Powers

 Money bills introduced in the Parliament only with his prior recommendation
 Causes to be laid before the Parliament the annual financial statement
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 He constitutes a finance commission after every five years.

Judicial Powers

 Appoints the Chief Justice and the judges of Supreme Court and high courts
 Seek advice from the Supreme Court - advice tendered by the Supreme Court is not binding
on the President.
 Article 72 – pardoning power

Military Powers

 He is the supreme commander of the defence forces of India.

Veto Powers

 President of India is vested with three– absolute veto, suspensive veto and pocket veto
 President has no veto power in respect of a constitutional amendment bill – 24th CAA

GOVERNOR

 Appointed by the President

 Appointment of the same person as a governor for two or more states - 7th Constitutional
Amendment Act of 1956.
 He acts as the chancellor of universities in the state.
 He also appoints the vice chancellors of universities in the state.
 Article 200 - Assent to bills (i.e. assent of the Governor to the bills passed by the state
legislature)
 Article 201 - Bills reserved by the Governor for consideration of the President

FINANCE COMMISSION

 Article 280
 Quasi judicial body
 It is constituted by the president of India every fifth year
 Chairman and four other members
 16th FC: Chairman: Arvind Panagariya – April 1 2026 – May 31, 2031
 Recommendations made by the Finance Commission are only of advisory nature and hence,
not binding on the government.

First - K.C. Neogy

Second - K. Santhanam

Tenth - K.C. Pant

Eleventh - A.M. Khusro

Twelfth - Dr. C. Rangarajan

Thirteenth - Dr. Vijay Kelkar

Fourteenth - Y.V. Reddy

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Fifteenth - N.K. Singh

Sixteenth – Arvind Panagariya

CENTRE-STATE RELATIONS

legislative, executive and financial

 Legislative relations: Articles 245 to 255

 Administrative / Executive relations: Articles 256 to 263
 Financial Relations: Articles 268 to 293

Distribution of Tax Revenues

 Article 268 - Taxes Levied by the Centre but Collected and Appropriated by the States
 Article 269 - Taxes Levied and Collected by the Centre but Assigned to the States
 Article 269-A - Levy and Collection of Goods and Services Tax in Course of Inter-State Trade
or Commerce
 Article 270 - Taxes Levied and Collected by the Centre but Distributed between the Centre
and the States.
 Article 271 - Surcharge on Certain Taxes and Duties for Purposes of the Centre
 Article 279-A empowered the President to constitute a GST Council by an order.

Committees regarding C-S Relations

 Administrative Reform Commission – 1966 – Moraji Desai – 6 members commission

 Rajamannar Committee – 1969 - Dr. P.V. Rajamannar – 3 members commission
 Sarkaria Commission – 1983 – R.S. Sarkaria - three-member Commission
 Punchhi Commission – 2007 -

MONEY BILL

 Article 110
 Queries related to money bill - decision of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha is final.
 Only be introduced in the Lok Sabha
 RS cannot reject or amend a money bill- only make recommendations - return the bill to the
Lok Sabha within 14 days.
 President gives assent to the bill or withhold his assent to the bill but cannot return the bill
for reconsideration of the Houses.
 No joint sitting.

Rajya Sabha is unequal to Lok Sabha

 Money Bill can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha - cannot amend or reject a Money Bill –
decision speaker
 Can only discuss the budget but cannot vote on the demands for grants
 The Rajya Sabha cannot remove the council of ministers by passing a no-confidence motion

Special Powers of Rajya Sabha

Authorise the Parliament to make a law on a subject enumerated in the State List (Article 249)
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Authorise the Parliament to create new All-India Services common to both the Centre and states
(Article 312)

It alone can initiate a move for the removal of the vice-president – Article 67

OFFICIAL LANGUAGES

 Part XVII
 8th Scheduled – 22 languages (originally 14)
 Official Language Commission 1955 – B.G. Kher
 21st CAA – Sindhi
 71st CAA – Konkani, Manipuri, Nepali
 92nd CAA – Bodo, Dongri, Santhali, Maithili

Classical Language Status

Six languages

 Tamil 2004
 Sanskrit 2005
 Telugu 2008
 Kannada 2008
 Malayalam 2013
 Odia 2014 - 96th Amendment Act of 2011 substituted “Odia” for “Oriya”.

ELECTION COMMISSION

Article 324

Part XV

Members: CEC + 2 ECs

Term: 6 years / 65 years of age

Committees related to electoral reforms:

Tarkunde Committee – 1974

Dinesh Goswami Committee – 1990

Indrajit Gupta Committee – 1998 - on State Funding of Elections

National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution – 2000 – M.N. Venkatachelliah

Lowering of Voting Age 21 to 18 – 6st CAA

Facts

 Lok Ayukta first state – 1971 – Maharashtra

 Panchayat raj first state – 1959 – Rajasthan
 Lok Adalat first state – 1982 – Gujarat
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IMPORTANT ARTICLES

 1 – India as Bharat
 17 - Abolition of untouchability
 21 - Protection of life and personal liberty
 21 A - Right to elementary education
 23 - Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour
 24 - Prohibition of employment of children in factories, etc.
 32 – Power of SC to issue writs
 44 - Uniform civil code for the citizens
 45 - Provision for early childhood care and education to children below the age of six years
 50 - Separation of judiciary from executive
 51 - Promotion of international peace and security
 51A - Fundamental duties – 51 A (k) – to provide opportunities for education to his child or
ward between the age of six and fourteen years – 86th CAA
 108 - Joint sitting of both Houses in certain cases
 110 - Definition of “money bills
 123 - Power of President to promulgate ordinances
 131 - Original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court
 143 - Power of President to consult Supreme Court
 148 - Comptroller and Auditor General of India
 200 - Assent to bills by Governor
 201 - Bills reserved for consideration of the president
 226 – Power of HC to issue writs
 249 - Power of Parliament to legislate with respect to a matter in the State List in the
national interest
 324 – Elections
 330 - Reservation of seats for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the House of the
people
 335 - Claims of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes to services and posts
 338 - National Commission for scheduled castes
 338A - National tribes Commission for scheduled
 338B - National Classes Commission for Backward
 368 – Amendment

Important Amendments

 1st - Added Ninth Schedule

 7th - Provided for the establishment of a common high court for two or more states.
 14th - Incorporated Puducherry in the Indian Union.
 42nd - Mini constitution
 Added three new words (i.e., socialist, secular and integrity) in the Preamble.
 Added Fundamental Duties by the citizens (new Part IV A).
 Shifted five subjects from the state list to the concurrent list, viz, education, forests,
protection of wild animals and birds, weights and measures.
 44th - Deleted the right to property from the list of Fundamental Rights and made it only a
legal right
 52nd – Anti defection law
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 61st - Reduced the voting age from 21 years to 18 years

 73rd - Granted constitutional status to the Panchayati raj institutions
 74th - Granted constitutional status to the Municipalities
 91st – COMs shall not exceed 15%
 96th – Oriya as Odiya
 97th – Gave constitutional status to co-operatives
 101st – GST
 102nd - Conferred a constitutional status on the National Commission for Backward Classes
 103rd – EWSs