UNIT 2

Directive Principles Of State Policy (DPSP)—Articles 36 to 51

2 types of individual rights
Justiciable rights Fundamental rights
Non Justiciable rights  DPSP
Classified into Gandhian, Socialistic and Liberal principles
SOCIALISTIC PRINCIPLES
They are the principles that aim at providing social and economic justice and set the path towards
the welfare state.
 Article 38- Social Economic Political justice
 Article 39- Secure citizens- health and wealth distribution
 Article 39A- Equal justice and legal aid to poor
 Article 41- Unemployment Old Age And Sickness
 Article 42- just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief
 Article 43- decent standard of living, social and cultural opportunities for all workers
GANDHIAN PRINCIPLES
Based on Gandhian ideology used to represent the programme of reconstruction enunciated by
Gandhi during the national movement
 Article 40- Organize village panchayats and endow them with necessary power and
authority.
 Article 46- Promote the educational and economic interests of SCs, STs and other weaker
sections.
 Article 47- Prohibit the consumption of intoxicating drinks and drugs
 Article 48- Prohibit the slaughter of cows, claves and other cattle.
LIBERAL INTELLECTUAL PRINCIPLES
These principles reflect the ideology of liberalism.
 Article 44- uniform civil code
 Article 45- Childhood care and education till 6 yrs
 Article 49- protect monuments and places/ objects
 Article 50- Separate the judiciary from the executive in the public services of the state.
 Article 51- International laws
FACTS ABOUT DPSP—IECD
44th amendment- article 38- minimize inequalities in income, status, facilities and opportunities
86th amendment- article 21A- addition of right to education to fundamental rights. State to provide
early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years.
97th amendment-article 37B- co-operative societies requires the state to promote voluntary
formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control, and professional management of co-
operative societies
Article 37- DPSPs are fundamental in the governance of the country and it shall be duty of the state
to apply these principles in making laws.

Criticism of DPSP-LICC
 Has no legal force
 Illogically arranged
 Conservative in nature
 Pay produce constitutional conflict between centre and state.
FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES
1. Abide by the Indian Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions , the National flag
and the National Anthem.
2. Cherish and follow noble ideals that inspired the national struggle for freedom
 3. Uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.
4. Defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so.
5. Promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India
transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities and to renounce
practices derogatory to the dignity of women
6. Value and preserve the rich heritage of the country‘s composite culture
7. Protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and
to have compassion for living creatures.
8. Develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform
9. Safeguard public property and to abjure violence.
10. Strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation
constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement
11. Provide opportunities for education to his child or ward between the age of six and fourteen
years. This duty was added by the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002.
PRESIDENT-ARTICLE 52
 President is considered the executive head of the country.
Qualifications-
- Citizen of the country
- >35 years
- Qualified for election as a member of the house of the people
Disqualification
- Should not hold any office of profit under union govt, state govt, and under any local
authority subject to control of any Govt of India
Condition of President’s office-
- Not a member of either house of parliament- if so, have to vacate
- Residence without rent
- No office of profit
- Allowances privileges etc.
- No reduction in privileges during the term
Election of the President-
- Article 54elected by the electoral college(consists of elected members of both
Houses of Parliament and the state legislative assembly)
- election of the President should be held according to the system of proportional
representation by means of a single transferable vote.
Disputes regarding the election-
- If the election of president is declared voidacts done by him in the exercise of the
powers of the office of President will not be considered invalid by reason of the order
of the Supreme Court.
- Parliament can formulate any law regarding the election of a President in consonance
with the provisions of the constitution.
- election of a person as President or Vice President shall not be called in question on the
ground of the existence of any vacancy for whatever reason among the members of the
electoral college.

Powers Of The President

1. Executive Powers
 Appointment of PM and his council of ministers
 Appointment of judges
 Appointment of the state governors, attorney general, auditor general, the chief election
commissioner and members of the election commission of India.
 Removal of all of the above
 2. Military Powers
 Appointment of all the officers including the chiefs of the forces.
 Wars are waged in the name of the president
 Peace is concluded in his name.
3. Diplomatic powers
 All ambassadors and high commissioners in foreign nations are his reps.
 He receives the credentials of the diplomatic representatives of other nations;
4. Legislative powers
 Budget sessionpresident is first to address the parliament
 President sanction is mandatory in cases of provisions relating to creating a new
state, changes in the boundary of existing states, a change in the name of a state.
 Legislative provisions relating to fundamental rights of the citizens of India require
the president’s consent.
 President‘s consent is necessary for all the bills passed by the Parliament to
become a law.
 President also nominates the members of both Houses.

SUPREME COURT
Highest authority and the final interpreter of the law in the country.

 Composed of 1 Chief Justice of India and 30 judges

 Appointed by the president after consultation with other judges of the Supreme
Court and the High courts and will hold office until age of 65.
Qualifications :
 Should be a citizen of India
 Have been a judge of the high court or judge of at least two courts in succession, for
a span of 5 years
 Have been an advocate of the high court or an advocate of at least two courts in
succession, for a span of 10 years
 And should be a distinguished jurist in the eyes of the President.
Tenure – 65 years
Removal- can resign or can be removed on the grounds of proven misdemeanor or incapacity by the
President.

Judges Inquiry Act,1968 procedure for investigation into the charges against the judges was laid
down. And the judge will be removed after proven misdemeanor or incapacity.
Act will consist of the following ppl—
- Any judge of the SC , or the Chief Justice of the SC,
- Any CJ of the HC
- Any person who is a distinguished jurist in the opinion of the Speaker.
These members will unanimously frame charges against the judge and will investigate it.
TRIBUNALS- institutions established for discharging judicial or quasi-judicial duties

The purpose of establishing tribunals to the exclusion of the jurisdiction of the High Courts was done
to reduce the pendency and lower the burden of cases.
Composition of tribunals – Chairman, vice- chairman, judicial member, administrative member
Term- chairman and vice-chairman65 years; other members62yrs

PROCEDURE AND POWERS-

 Production of documents
 Receiving evidence on affidavits
 Issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses and documents
  Reviewing its decision
 Deciding the case ex-parte
 Setting aside any order passed by it ex-parte
 Leading case laws
 Any other matter prescribed by the central govt.

ADVANTAGES OF ADMIN TRIBUNALS

 Flexibility
 Speedy justice
 Less expensive
 Quality justice
 Relief to courts
AND DISADVANTAGES
 Against the rule of law
 Lack of specified procedure
 No prediction of future decisions
 Scope of arbitrariness
 Absence of legal expertise
VICE PRESIDENT
Functions-
 Casts his vote in case of tie in Rajya Sabha.
 Represents the Council of States on ceremonial occasions.
 He protects the rights and privileges of the members of the Rajya Sabha
 Travels , for goodwill missions , to foreign countries.
 Shall perform the functions of the President in cases where the President in unable
to perform due to illness, absence etc., until he returns.
 Shall act as President if the vacancy is created for the post of president due to
resignation, removal or death or otherwise until a new president is elected.

PRIME MINISTER

Duties:
 proposes the names of the members to President for appointment as Ministers of the
government;
 can reshuffle the Cabinet and decides for the distribution of charges of different ministries
as well.
 presides over the meetings of the Cabinet and can also change the decisions taken by the
Cabinet;
 suggests the President of India about the resignation or removal of any minister from the
Cabinet
 directs and controls the functioning of Ministers in the Cabinet;
 may resign at any time and can even ask the President of India to dissolve the Cabinet.;
 can advise the President to dissolve entire Lok Sabha to conduct fresh elections;
 Cabinet stops functioning If the Prime Minister resigns from his post, and spontaneously
dissolves after the death of the Prime Minister.
Rights and powers:
Can advise the President for the appointment of the following-

ELECTION COMMISSION
 The body administers elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, state Legislative Assemblies,
state legislative Councils, and the offices of the President and Vice President of the country
and operates under the constitution of the country.
 Election commission, Judiciary ,UPSC ,Comptroller and auditor general of India 
institutions that work with both autonomy and freedom.
 ensure the conduct of free and fair elections, which feature is held to be a basic structure of
the Constitution.
 In the interest of free and fair elections, for the safety and security of electors and with a
view to prevent intimidation and victimisation of electors, the Commission has full power to
direct the manner of counting of votes.

Functions of the Election Commission

a. superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls for all elections
to Parliament and to the Legislature of every State and of elections to the offices of
President and Vice-President.
b. Conduction of all of the mentioned elections
c. advise the President or the Governor of a State, on the question of disqualification of any
Member of Parliament or a member of a State Legislature, respectively.

Right to vote not a fundamental right

right to vote or stand as a candidate for election is a creature of statute or a special law and must be
subject to the limitations imposed by it. These rights are not absolute rights, nor are held to be
constitutional rights.
NHRC- NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
Human rights and it’s commission-human rights are those minimal rights, which every individual
must have against the state or other public authority, by virtue of his being a member of human
family irrespective of any consideration.

Characteristics and nature of Human Rights

 Inalienable
 Essential and necessary
 Irrevocable
 Connection with human dignity
 Necessary for the fulfillment of purpose of life
 Are universal
 Never absolute
 Dynamic
 as limits to state power

Structure of the commission

 Consists of a chairman and 7 other members
  President appoints them on recommendation of a high-powered committee headed by
Prime Minister
 Are appointed for 5 years or till the age of 70 years.
 Can be removed only on the charges of proved misbehavior or incapacity, by an inquiry
conducted by the SC.
 Commission also has 5 specialized divisionslaw division, investigation division, policy
research & programmes division, Training division and Administration division.(LIPTA)

Functions and powers of the NHRC

 investigates grievances regarding the violation of human rights.
 has the power to interfere in any judicial proceedings involving any allegation of violation of
human rights.
 can visit any jail or any other institution under the control of the State Government to see
the living conditions of the inmates and to make recommendations thereon.
 can review the safeguards provided under the constitution or any law for the protection of
the human rights and can recommend appropriate remedial measures.
 undertakes and promotes research in the field of human rights.
 has the powers of a civil court and can grant interim relief.
 also has the authority to recommend payment of compensation or damages.

Limitations of NHRC
 does not have any mechanism of investigation. In majority cases, it asks the concerned
Central and State Governments to investigate the cases of the violation of Human Rights
 incapacity to render any practical relief to the aggrieved party.
 can only make recommendations, without the power to enforce decisions.
 inadequacy of funds also hamper its working
 large number of grievances go unaddressed because NHRC cannot investigate the complaint
registered after one year of incident.
 Government often out rightly rejects recommendation of NHRC or there is partial
compliance to these recommendations.
 NHRC powers related to violations of human rights by the armed forces have been largely
restricted.
Anti-defection law
 To endure that a party member does not violate the mandate of the party and in case he
does so, he will lose his membership of the House. Law applies to both Parliament and
assemblies of state.

Political Defection-
 Defection is disloyalty ; it is the abandonment of duty or principle or of one’s leader or
cause.
 Defector is disloyal not only to the party on whose ticket he/she has been elected but also
commits a breach of faith with the electorate whose votes were secured on the basis of his
or her electoral affiliation and promises.