UNION COUNCIL �OF � MINISTERS

Dr. Jiwan Devi

Assistant Professor in Political Science

HRMMV Jalandhar

—Gettell

“Cabinet government is that form in which the real executive consisting of the prime minister and cabinet is legally respnsible to the legislature for its acts .”

01

Formation of the council

In India, there is a parliamentary form of government. That is, there is a direct distinction between the real and nominal executive. President is called the nominal executive or nominal head of the state. However, the prime minister and his council of ministers constitute the real executive or leadership of the country.

According to article 74, “there shall be a union council of ministers with prime minister as its head to aid and advise the president who shall in exercise of his function act in accordance with such advice.”

Article 75 states that, “the prime minster shall be appointed by the president and other ministers shall be appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister.”

In reality, the president does not exercise his discretion while appointing the prime minister or other ministers. The president appoints the leader of majority party as prime minster. For other ministers, the prime minister prepares a list of his preferred ministers, which list the president has to approve without any arguments and sign the list.

There are certain situations wherein the president uses his discretion to appoint the prime minister, such as:

1. When no party is able to gain an absolute majority of votes in an election.

​

• When the prime minister either resigns or passes away while in office.

​

SIZE OF COUNCIL: the size of the council of ministers is not specified in the Indian constitution. However, it could not be more than 15% of the total strength of the lok sabha, which is fixed at a maximum of 250 members. The size of council of ministers has remained varied in terms of different prime ministers.

TENURE: According to article 75, the tenure of council of ministers is not as such fixed. It shall hold office as long as it enjoys the favour of the president. However, in reality, the council of ministers remains in office until the prime minster wishes them to. the prime minister can ask any minister to resign from office any time he wanted to.�The council of ministers is constitutionally responsible for all their decisions and actions in front of the legislation.

PORTFOLIO DISTRIBUTION: Portfolios imply the document that specifies the position and duties of a Minister or Secretary of State. As a part of administrative duties, the government distributes portfolios to its ministers to provide a structured organization to the governance. The prime minister can, upon his will, reshuffle the portfolio distribution on basis of their performance.

QUALIFICATIONS OF MEMBERS OF COUNCIL OF MINISTERS: A person must fulfill certain qualifications to be elected as a part of the union council of ministers. These are:�1. He must be a citizen of India.�2. He must be qualified for being elected as a member of either house of the parliament.�3. must be a member of either house of the parliament.

CATEGORIES OF MINISTERS

The council of ministers is classified as thus:

1. Cabinet minister- they are most important and senior member of the council of ministers. They hold charge of most important portfolios such as, defence, foreign affairs, finance, etc.
2. Ministers of state- some ministers of state hold the independent charges of portfolios, while others assist senior ministers, on the discretion of the prime minister.

​

3. Deputy ministers- they do not hold independent charge of any portfolio, but are attached with the cabinet ministers and ministers of the state. They supervise the work assigned to them by the senior ministers and submit reports regarding their work to the ministers.

4. Parliamentary secretaries- the parliamentary secretaries are neither ministers nor do they hold charge of any department. They are appointed by the prime minister and are responsible to him. Their chief function is to assist the ministers in the parliament.

5. Deputy prime minister- there is no constitutional provision for the office of the deputy prime minister. However, deputy prime ministers have been appointed by the prime ministers for assistance in the past and their tenure and office functions depend solely upon the wish of the prime minister. Due to no constitutional provision, the position of deputy prime minister is legally equal to that of the council of ministers.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CABINET AND THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

The cabinet differs from the council in following ways:

• Council of ministers has 75-80 members.
• Council of ministers is the wider concept which encloses the cabinet.
• Council of ministers does not take part in policy making.
• Meetings of council of ministers is very rarely held.
• The members of council of ministers is not a part of cabinet.
• Council of ministers have less salary than the cabinet members.

• Cabinet members have only 30-35 members.
• Cabinet is the internal part of the council of ministers. Called “wheel within the wheel”.
• Cabinet forms all national and foreign policies.
• Meetings of cabinet are held once or twice a week.
• All members of cabinet are a part of the council of ministers.
• Cabinet members have more salary than the council members.

FUNCTIONS OF THE UNION COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

Functions of council of ministers

Peace

Administration

National policies

Foreign policies

Legislation

Financial functions

Appointments

Advice to president

Investigation

1. Administrative functions- the administration of a state is run by the cabinet. Every minister is in charge of the administrative portfolios and is responsible to the parliament for their actions.�2.Peace- cabinet is responsible for the maintenance of peace and order throughout the nation. The protection of people against foreign aggression and maintenance of cordial relations with neighboring countries is under the cabinet functions.�3.national policies- the cabinet forms all policies essential for national development. The supreme executive authority is in the hands of the cabinet. The development of the state depends upon the progressive policies framed by the cabinet.�

4. Foreign policies- every state has the function to maintain foreign relations with the other states. The maintenance of the foreign relations depends upon foreign policies laid down by the cabinet it includes treaties and trade pacts.�5. legislative functions- the legislative functions are in the hands of the legislature. However, the parliamentary form of government leads to a close relationship between the legislature and executive. Thus, cabinet is important in legislative functions such as parliament sessions, bills, ordinances, etc.�6.financial- the finance minister prepares a budget including estimated income and expenditure for upcoming financial year. Cabinet decides the taxes to be implemented, reduced or raising revenues.�

7. Appointments- all high appointments are made by the president, but these appointments are made on the recommendation of the cabinet ministers while the president only gives approval. For eg. Attorney General, members of UPSC and Election Commission.�8. Advise to president- article 74 provides for the cabinet to act as an advisory committee of the president. It means that president shall exercise his powers and functions with accordance to the advice of the cabinet. �9.investigation function- the cabinet appoints ministers to investigate the charges against high officials.

POSITION OF COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

• From the functions of the council of ministers, it is concluded that the position of the council of ministers is that of a real executive that is responsible for handling all the administration of the state.
• No sphere of administrative functioning could be outside of the control of the cabinet, thus giving a high level of autonomic power to the ministers who are a part of the cabinet ministry.
• The cabinet is answerable to the parliament, press and the members of the opposition party who hold the cabinet responsible for all their actions and decisions.
• If the council of ministers acts against public interest or against public welfare, the lok sabha can remove them from office by moving a no-confidence motion.

CONCLUSION

Thus, from the above discussion it can be concluded that the position of the council of ministers is that of a real executive body which is responsible for the regulation of whole administrative structure of the state including passing of bills, ordinances, framing of policies of national and international importance. Although the cabinet is in a very powerful position, its powers are not absolute. The cabinet is answerable to the press, parliament and opposition political parties for all their decisions and actions.

THANK YOU….