The Organs of the government

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”

- John Acton

The Doctrine of Separation of Powers proposed by Montesquieu, “There would be an end

of everything, were the same man or same body, whether of the nobles or of the people, to
exercise those three powers, that of enacting laws, that of executing laws, that of executing
public resolutions, and of trying the causes of individuals.”

The Indian government is modeled after the westminster system for governing the
state.1 The three organs of the government are legislature, executive and judiciary. The
legislature is bicameral and it consists of the lower house which is the LokSabha and the upper
house which is the RajyaSabha. The President of India is the head of state while the prime
minister is the head of the executive, and he is responsible for the functioning of the union
government.The judiciary has the Supreme Court as the apex court, High Courts at the state level
and district and sessions courts in the district level.2

Legislature

India has a bicameral form of legislature and the powers of the legislature are vested
upon the parliamentconsisting of the LokSabha and the RajyaSabha. The LokSabha is considered
to be the lower house or the House of the people. The RajyaSabha is considered to be the upper
house or the Council of States and consists of members appointed by the president and elected by
the state legislatures.

The parliament does not have complete control and sovereignty, as its laws are subject
to judicial review by the Supreme Court. It has some control over the executive. The members of
the cabinet, including the prime minister, are either chosen from parliament or elected thereto
within six months of assuming office.The cabinet is completely responsible to
the LokSabha.The LokSabha can only be dissolved when the party in power loses its majority in

1
Subramanian, K, A prime ministerial form of government, The Hindu, June 17, 2014.
2
R.C.Agarwal, Political Theory, S.Chand,2016
the house. The RajyaSabha cannot be dissolved and it is a permanent house. The members of the
RajyaSabha are elected for a period of 6 years.3

Executive

The executive of government is the one that has sole authority and responsibility for the
daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of
government is central to the republican idea of the separation of powers.

President: The power of the executive is vested mainly with the President of India.According to
Article 53(1)4 the president has all constitutional powers and exercises them directly or through
officers subordinate to him. As per Article 745 the president is to act in accordance with aid and
advice given by the prime minister, who leads the council of ministers.The council of ministers
remains in office at the 'pleasure' of the president.

The president has the power to appoint the governors of the 29 states; the chief justice;
other judges of the supreme courtand high courts on the advice of other judges; the Attorney
general; the Comptroller and Auditor General; the Chief Election Commissioner and
other election commissioners; the chairman and members of the Union Public Service
Commission; the officers of the All India Services and the ambassadors and high
commissioners to other countries.He is the de jure commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed
Forces. He has the power to grant pardon or reduce the sentence of a convicted person for the
cases which involves death sentence.

Vice president: The position is the second highest constitutional position in India after the
president.He is indirectly elected by members of an electoral college consisting of the members
of both the houses of the parliament in accordance with the system of proportional
representation by means of the single transferable vote and the voting is by secret ballot
conducted by the election commission.The vice president represents the nation in the absence of
the president or if the president is impeached or removed then he shall act as the president.

3
Semwal,&Sunil Khosla. Judicial Activism, The Indian Journal of Political Science, Vol.69, No.1, 2008
4
Constitution of India 1950
5
IBID
Prime minister: The prime minister is the head of the council of ministers and the leader of the
majority party in the parliament. The prime minister leads the executive wing of the
Government.The prime minister selects and can also dismiss other members of the cabinet;
allocates posts to members within the Government; is the presiding member and chairman of the
cabinet and is responsible for bringing a proposal of legislation. The resignation or death of the
prime minister will dissolve the cabinet.6

Cabinet: It consists of the prime minister and his cabinet ministers. All the ministers must be a
member of either house of the parliament. The cabinet is headed by the prime minister.
According toArticle 88every minister shall have the right to speak in, and to take part in the
proceedings of, either house, any joint sitting of the houses, and any committee of parliament of
which he may be named a member, but shall not be entitled to a vote in the house where he is not
a member.7

Judiciary

The judiciary has the Supreme Court as the apex court, High Courts at the state level and district
and sessions courts at the district level.It has the responsibility to apply various laws to specific
cases and settle the disputes. The various functions of the judiciary are: The dispenser of Justice,
Protector of the rights of the people, Guardian protector of the Constitution of the State, Arbiter
of center-state disputes, Safeguard against Legislative and executive excesses, Check against
arbitrary exercise of powers by the power-holders, Guardian of Rule of Law and
Justice.Judiciary is the guardian and protector of the constitution.8

J.Sriprasad

BC0160048

6
Governor to the Rescue, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 33, no. 7, 1998, pp. 309–309.
7
Supra Note 3
8
Edosa, Fenemigho, The judiciary as an organ of government, African Research Review, Vol 8(3), S.No.34, July
2014