The Constitution and working of Legislature.
By: Nikhil pandey.
“Constitution is not a mere lawyers document, it is a vehicle of Life, and its spirit is always the spirit of Age.”
-B. R. Ambedkar.
Introduction to Constitution.
Constitution is believed to be supreme law of a country. The word ‘Constitution’ is a French origin which is generally used for regulation and orders. Constitution means body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organisation is governed. Every country has its own Constitution, which describes about duties, rules and regulation, which helps a country in governing itself. Thus, Constitution is made by keeping in mind the political, social, economical, cultural, and legal aspects.
Indian Constitution and its history.
“Preamble starts with ‘we the people’ and talks about equality, liberty, fraternity and secularism”.
India also has its own Constitution, which is regarded as the longest written Constitution of any sovereign country in the world. At its commencement Constitution had 395 articles divided in 22 parts and 8 schedules.
“Swaraj will not be a free gift of the British Parliament; it will be a declaration of India’s full self expression…” these statements were made by Gandhiji in 1922 as british did not made any Constitutional reform for protecting the rights of citizens of Indian. The demand for Constitution had raised by Indian National Congress in 1934. The failure of Round Table Conference and statutory commission had brought Government of India Act, 1935.
A thought for a Constituent Assembly of India was proposed in 1934 by M. N. Roy, a pioneer of the Communist movement in India. It turned into an official request of the Indian National Congress in 1935, and was acknowledged by the British in August 1940. On 8 August 1940, an announcement was made by Viceroy Lord Linlithgow about the development of the Governor-General’s Executive Council. This offer, known as the August Offer, included giving full weight to minority opinions and permitting Indians to draft their own particular Constitution. Under the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946, elections were held for the first time for the Constituent Assembly.
Constitution of India is known to be supreme law of India, which was adopted by Constituent assembly in 26 December, 1949 which came to effect on 26 January, 1950. Indian Constitution was drafted by Constituent assembly and many committees were formed during this in which main committee was drafting committee which was formed on 29th august 1947. The first meeting was held on 9th December, 1946. Jawaharlal nehru, on December 13, 1946 moved an eight-point objective resolution which served as the road map for the Constitution. As many as 7,635 amendments were proposed and 2,473 amendments could only be discussed during two years, eleven months and eighteen days, with a total expenditure of ₹6.4 million.
The Constitution received the signature of the President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, and was proclaimed as passed. In all, 284 members actually signed the Constitution. On that day when the Constitution was being signed, it was drizzling outside and it was interpreted as a sign of a good omen.
Some provisions like Citizenship, Elections, provisional parliament, temporary & transitional provisions were given immediate effect on 26 November, 1949 and the rest of Constitution came into force on 26th January, 1950.
Adoptions from other Constitutions.
Major parts of Indian Constitution is borrowed from mini Constitution of India generally known as Government of India Act, 1935 and rest is imported from Constitution of other countries. Dr B. R. Ambedkar is believed to be chief architect of Indian Constitution.
The architects of Indian Constitution were most vigorously affected by the British model of parliamentary democracy. Likewise, a number of standards were received from the Constitution of the United States of America, including the establishment of Supreme Court and separation of powers among the government. From Ireland, Directive principle of state policy was adopted. From Germany, provisions of Emergency were adopted. From Australia, idea of having concurrent list was adopted, and much more.
Salient features of Indian Constitution.
Constitution is a living document, an instrument which makes the administration framework work. It sets out the system characterizing Fundamental principles, procedures, builds up the structure, powers and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles and the duties of citizens. It is the longest composed Constitution of any sovereign nation on the world.
The American Constitution provides for double citizenship, i.e., the citizen of America and a state citizenship. But in India there is only one citizenship, i.e., Citizen of India. No state citizenship like citizen of Assam, Citizen of Delhi. Each Indian is Citizen of India and appreciate similar privileges of citizenship regardless of in what state he resides.
The Constitution also builds up a parliamentary form of a Legislature both at the Center and the State. The importance of the parliamentary government is its responsibility to the Legislature. The president is the Constitutional head of the State but the real executive power is vested in the hand of council of ministers whose head is the Prime Minister.
Constitution has a unique blend of rigidity and flexibility as well as has an independent judiciary.
Functions of Constitution.
One of the main function of the Indian Constitution is to guarantee that the citizens of India will be entitled for rights relating to Equality, Educational rights, Right to freedom of speech and expression, Right to press, Right to movement, Constitutional Remedies, Religion and cultural rights, Freedom rights. The Fundamental rights are one of the most important functions amongst the Indian Constitution.
Constitution also defines the core duty of every citizen of the country under Article 51 A known as “Fundamental duties”.
“Preamble starts with ‘we the people’ and talks about equality, liberty, fraternity and secularism” which clearly depicts the democratic spirit of the country, every citizen is vested to some rights, and who are bound to follow duties and obligations as responsible people of the country. Hence, Constitution describes the chief objectives which it is likely to give to every citizen of nation and vice-versa.
Article 14 describes Equality before law and equal protection of laws which also states that no person can be discriminated on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
The Directive Principles which are given in Part IV of Indian Constitution shall not be enforceable by any court, but the principles therein laid down are nevertheless fundamental in the governance of the country and it shall be the duty of the State to apply these principles in making laws.
As a republic nation, the Constitution states that there will be a President of the country rather than a monarchy establishment, and that the country will function democratically under the choices and preferences of the people.
Working of Constitution.
Drafting of Indian Constitution was considered as the first step which was taken by an Independent India to form the structure for a democratic nation. The Constitution has established three main pillars which are the basic structure and helps in functioning of the same- the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary.
Executive: The executive branch is led by the President; he is Head of State and exercises his powers directly, or through officers that rank beneath him. Prime Minister along with his council of ministers are elected for every five years and hence called as Temporary Executives where as civil servants and other government staffs are called as Permanent Executives. They are assigned the task of policy implementation.
Legislature: It is the policy making body of India. Every single bill proposed by the official has to be initiated, discussed about, reviewed ,amended and voted upon in the lawmaking body. So at last the governing body or Legislature decides which bills ought to be passed. The Executive can bypass the lawmaking body through Ordinance. In any case, the legitimacy of this statute is six months and six weeks just and it must be approved by the Legislature.
Judiciary: Judiciary is the adjudicating body. Indian Judiciary is an independent judiciary in itself, it is the system by which law is interpreted and applied in the name of state.
Judiciary has the ability to review any law passed by the Parliament and can announce a law invalid and void if it infringes the Constitution.
Legislature and its working.
Legislature simply means law making through deliberations. The term Legislature is a generic term meaning a body which legislates. The term ‘Legg’ means law and ‘Lature’ means place. Combining together it stands for a place for law making. Law is usually made in parliament, hence it would not be wrong if Parliament is used as a synonym in place of Legislature. So, it can be said that ‘Parliament’ means law making through deliberations.
Legislature or parliament is that part of government which helps in making law through deliberations.
Legislature is that organ of the administration which passes the laws of the government. It is the agency which has the obligation to formulate the will of the state and vest it with lawful power and force. In straight words, the lawmaking body is that organ of the administration which formulates laws. It is the assembly of elected representatives of people and also represents national public opinion and power of people. The members of Legislature are called Legislators and the laws enacted by Legislatures are known as Legislation.
Functions of a Legislature.
Law making body: The most important function of Legislature is to administer i.e. to make laws. In old times, laws used to emerge from traditions, customs and religious sacred texts, or were issued by the rulers as their summons. It is the Legislature which creates the will of the state into laws and gives it a legitimate character. The laws reflect the changing shape of society and the new social environment. The approaches of the administration are put to executive through the laws made by lawmaking body. The laws need to modify themselves to the continually changing necessities of the general public. Subsequently one of the significant elements of the lawmaking body other than making law, altering and revoking them wherever they get to be old or obsolete. Laws are enacted according to the prescribed procedure of the Constitution. The law making powers of the governing bodies are absolute. They are restricted by the arrangements of the Constitution.
Deliberative Functions: It is important to discuss about the issues related to public opinions, national importance, etc,. The discussions and debates which take place in the Legislature have a great educative value for people as every member or party tries not only to present the view and perception but also permits to mould his own views in the light of discussion made in the House. Through this power the legislative acts as a connection between the general population and the administration or government.
Executive responsible to Legislature: Legislature has the power to control over the executive. India being a parliamentary type of government so, decisions, policies, issues, action, are collectively responsible and accountable to the Legislature. Not only this but Legislature has one more advantage i.e., it can remove executive by passing a vote of no confidence, or by rejecting a Law, budget, or policy of the executive.
Judicial Functions: It is conventional to give some judicial power to the Legislature. In India the President, the members of U.P.S.C, the Comptroller and Auditor General, the judges of Supreme Court, can be impeached by the Parliament on the grounds of incapacity or misbehaviour
Constitutional Functions: The Legislature have some of its Constitution functions to perform. In practically every state, it is the lawmaking body which has the ability to amend the Constitution. For this reason, governing body needs to pass special laws, called amendments, as per the system set down in the Constitution. In few states the prerequisite is that the Legislature assembly must pass the amendment with 2/third or 3/fourth or a flat out dominant part of votes.
The greater part of the lawmaking bodies are been depended with the forces to amend the Constitution. In India all alteration proposals can be started only in the Legislature.
Electoral Functions: A significant number of the governing bodies take part in discretionary capacities. Both the houses of Indian Parliament participates in the election of the President and Vice-President of India. It likewise elects a few of its individuals to different committees of the House. It chooses its presiding and deputy presiding officers.
Provisions related to Legislature
Legislature is one of the organ of government that passes laws of government. Some provisions provided in Indian Constitution related to Legislature are Article 13 clause (3) (b) which says “Laws in force” includes laws passed or made by a Legislature or other competent authority in the territory of India before the commencement of this Constitution…”.
Article 31(a), (b) and (c)., Article 35, Article 101 clause (2), Article 118, Article 154 which describes the “Executive powers of State”, Article 158, Article 162 which talks about the “ Extent of executive power of State”.
Article 168 clause (1) of part VI, which cannotes “ For every state there shall be a Legislature which shall consist of the Governor and Article 168 clause (2) which signify “ Where there are two Houses of the Legislature of a State, one shall be known as the Legislative Council and the other as the Legislative Assembly, and where there is only one House, it shall be known as the Legislative Assembly”.
Article 169 which says “Abolition or creation of Legislative Councils in States”, Article 170 which says “Composition of the Legislative Assemblies”, Article 171 which says “Composition of the Legislative councils”, Article 172 “Duration of State Legislatures”, and many more.
Powers of Legislature:
In India, all the legislative powers are exercised by the parliament which is a bicameral Legislature, having both the houses namely the Rajya Sabha- the upper house and the Lok Sabha- the lower house.
The Rajya Sabha known as ‘council of state elected by state assemblies’, consist of members appointed by the President and elected by the state, it can hold maximum of 250 members out of which 12 members are nominated by the President and 238 are representatives of the States and of the two Union Territories. The minimum age to be elected member of Rajya Sabha is 30 years, Rajya Sabha is a permanent body that cannot be dissolved, but the term of a member in the Rajya Sabha is 6 years, whereas the Lok Sabha known as ‘the house of people’ members are directly elected by the people, it can hold maximum of 552 members as whole. The minimum age to be elected member of Lok sabha is 25 years. Lok Sabha has a term of five years. President can dissolve the Lok Sabha every five years or even before. The member of cabinet including the prime minister and Council of Ministers as a whole is responsible to the Lok Sabha.
Lok Sabha only has the power to introduce the budget whereas Rajya Sabha can discuss the clauses in the budget but it cannot introduce a budget.
In case of Constitution amendment Bill, it has to be passed by both the Houses- Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha by a specific majority.
Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to Lok Sabha. They can show power in the question hour, can pass adjournment motion, and can pass confidence motion, where as Rajya Sabha cannot help in making or unmaking of Government.
Conclusion
The commitment of Dr. Ambedkar in Indian Democracy is not to be overlooked. As an executive of the Constitutional Committee he gave a shape to our nation of a total Sovereign, Democratic and Republic based on adult franchise. Baba Saheb Ambedkar’s name will be written in golden letters in the historical backdrop of India as a maker of social justice. This reality is doubtless. He was not just the man of age and developer of the Constitution additionally the maker of social equity and advancement of the discouraged. In the event that Mahatma Gandhi provided guidance and lesson of ethical quality then Baba Saheb offered shape to social perspective without abuse. He spent his entire life for the improvement of poor people, misused, untouchables and agitated classes. Therefore, Dr. Ambedkar’s commitment to the Indian Constitution is without a doubt of the highest order. To be sure he should have been known as the “father or the Chief Architect” of the Indian Constitution. Still there is alot of improvement needed by our Constitution.