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By Jatin Verma Social Justice
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 What you will learn from this Course?

1. Inter-linking of Static portion with the dynamic Current Affairs

2. Understanding of the Constitutional terms and Jargons that we normally gloss-over
3. Understanding of the “Indian Democracy at Work”: How different institutions
exercise Checks & Balances over each other
4. Memorising Facts through an understanding based approach.
5. Contemporary issues like Right to Privacy, Aadhar issue, Cattle Slaughter Rules.
6. Evolution of Indian Constitution: B.N. Rau’s ideas; Supreme Court judgements in
a continuum approach.
7. How to identify Prelims-type questions or factual information yourself, while reading

the Newspaper
8. How to approach a question in Mains.
9. Understanding the “Context” of recommendations of Second ARC, NCRWC,
Sarkaria Commission, Punchhi Commission etc.
Three organs of State: Every organ of the State at one point or the other vies to
come to the Center- Stage i.e. Governance.

Legislature. Legislative Adventurism

Close Coordination
Interface:J-L Deadlocks
eg. NJAC(2015) To MoP
Centre-Stage
Governance

Executive Judiciary. Judicial Vigilantism

Interface: J-E Deadlocks. Eg.- Liquor Ban, Cow Slaughter Rules, Govt. Ads
 Constitutional
Bodies Citizenship Directive
Non- Principles of
Constitutional State Policy
Bodies
Statutory Bodies
Fundamental
Rights
Some
Components
State of Indian
Legislature Polity The Parliament of
Local India-President, Lok
Government Sabha, Rajya Sabha
Centre- The Executive
State The Legislature
Relations Development
of the The Judiciary
© Jatin Verma 2018. All Rights Reserved
Constitution
 STATE
3 Organs of
State [Country State]

Executive. Legislature. Judiciary

[Article 50: Separation]
PM, Cabinet, MPs, MLAs
Council of Ministers To maintain the
Independence of
MP becomes PM Judiciary

Doctrine of Separation of Powers.

©JitinVerma
Every organ of the State at one point or the other vies to come to the Center- Stage i.e.
Governance. This is what leads to another problem- ‘Judicial Over-reach’ OR ‘Legislative
Adventurism’ OR ‘Executive tyranny’.

Legislative Adventurism [Legislative organ of the State tries to test the Constitutional
Limits-
1st Amendment Act to 121st Amendment Act, 2014 (NJAC)] leads to Judicial Vigilantism
which is tolerable.
But in the process Judicial Vigilantism becomes excessive and ends up being labelled as
JUDICIAL OVER-REACH- Judicial Over-reach is when judiciary intrudes into the arena of
Executive (500 meter Liquor ban, National Anthem, Regulating Govt. Advertisements)
 Imposes
People are the Limits on the Powers of
Sovereign in an independent Different organs of the
Democracy State

Constitution
of Whatever is beyond the
India Scope of Constitution is
declared as ultra-vires the
Constitution by Judiciary
 Makes India a democratic
country

Determines interactions The

among the different parts Determines the procedures
Constitution of government formation
of the government in the
specific area of their work of India

Determines methods and

process of government’s
functionality
© Jatin Verma 2018. All Rights Reserved
 Is the Supreme law of the land.

Is the source of all the The Makes the government

Constitution discharge its functions and
powers and authority of the
responsibilities within the
government and its organs. of India framework of the Constitution.

Is Rigid yet flexible, but within the ambit of

the basic structure.
© Jatin Verma 2018. All Rights Reserved
Has unitary as well as federal features.
 Parts, Chapters, Articles & Schedules of Constitution
Parts- A group of related articles together forms a Single part.
For examples:
Part 1 : contains Articles 1 to 4 with heading as Union and its territories ,
Part 2 : contains Articles 5 to 11 with heading as Citizenship.
Originally, the Constitution had 22 Parts. Later on, 3 more parts were added
through amendments. Thus, there are 25 parts as of now.

Parts, in turn, contain Chapters: eg. Part V – ‘The Union’ has 5 chapters.
Chapter 1: The Executive
Chapter 2: Parliament
Chapter 3: Legislative powers of the president
Chapter 4: The Union Judiciary
Chapter 5: Comptroller and Auditor General of India
Schedules: are addendum at the end of the Constitution that either further add to the
associated article(s) or further describe the particular article(s). e.g. Seventh Schedule is
associated with Article 246 which lists the union (central government), state, and concur-
rent lists of responsibilities.

Heirarchy:
Schedule 11
Constitution
1. Agriculture, including
Parts agricultural extension. 
Art 243 G
2. Land improvement, im-
Chapters plementation of land re-
forms, land consolidation
and soil
Articles conservation. 
3. ----------------------------
4. ---
-----------
29. 29. Maintenance of
community assets
Understanding of Parliamentary Functioning
President of India is just the
Nominal-Head.
[Rubber Stamp]
Head of the State.
[All the actions of the Govt.
Are in the name of Prez.]

Real Power in a “Westminster

Model” rests with the PM.
 Head of the Govt.

Lok Sabha
©JitinVerma Council of Ministers Majority= 273 seats
Executive
The Union Executive consists of the President, the Vice President, the Prime
Minister, the Council of Minister and the Attorney General of India.

The Parliament of India consists of:

[i]The President
[ii] Lok Sabha &
[iii]Rajya Sabha

Q. Why is President an integral Part of Parliament?

Because a bill cannot become an Act without the signatures of President.

Q. Why is President a part of the Executive?

Because all the actions of the Executive are taken in the name of President
[Gazette, Notifications, Bills etc.]
Features of the Parliamentary/Westminster system include:
[i] Nominal Head: A head of the State, who is different from the head of government, and
who may possess reserve powers, which are not normally exercised, and whose role is
largely ceremonial.
[ii]Real Head: A head of government (usually called the Prime Minister who is appointed
by the head of state, but who, by convention, must have the support of the
majority of the Members of Parliament;
[iv]An Elected legislature, or a system in which one house is directly elected
by the people and the other appointed(meaning Rajya Sabha), although in some
countries with bicameral systems, both Houses are elected;
[iii]An Executive branch, usually called the Cabinet, made up of Members of
the legislature(MPs) and led by the head of government(i.e. PM);
[v] The presence of opposition parties: Multi-party Democracy
 Doctrine of Constitutional Supremacy OR Doctrine of Parliamentary
Supremacy:

Constitution
of
India
OR

Same People but Special Legal Entity

 Prism of Constitutionalism Mirror

Constitutional Provisions Implementation mirrors the Constitution

are like the Rays

If the rays are getting diffracted and

touching a low, then that means there is

lack of Constitutionalism in the Country

Historical Context
 Historical Context:
Accusation that Indian Constitution is a Borrowed Constitution
Borrowings from the Government of India Act 1935
1. Federal Scheme (Partly taken from the constitution of Canada*)
2. Office of Governor
3. Judiciary
4. Public Service Commission
5. Emergency Provisions
6. Administrative Details

 Government of India Act 1935 was passed by British Parliament in August 1935.

 With 321 sections and 10 schedules, this was the longest act passed by British
Parliament so far and was later divided into two parts viz.
Government of India Act 1935 and Government of Burma Act 1935.
So, in this way, this act led to separation of Burma from India.
 The Government of India Act 1935 was based on four key sources viz.
[i]Report of the Simon Commission,
[ii]discussions at the Third Round Table Conference,
[iii]the White Paper of 1933 and
[iv]the reports of the Joint select committees.

 This act ended the system of dyarchy introduced by GOI Act 1919 and
provided for establishment of a Federation of India to be made up of
provinces of British India and some or all of the Princely states. 

 Dyarchy: was a system of double government introduced by the Government

of India Act (1919) for the provinces of British India.
 Dyarchy was introduced as a constitutional reform by Edwin Samuel
Montagu (secretary of state for India, 1917–22) and Lord Chelmsford (viceroy
of India, 1916–21).
 Salient Provisions of Government of India Act of 1935:
1. The Act provided for an All-India Federation consisting of the Provinces and the Princely
States as units, though the envisaged federation never came into being.
Reason: The required number of princely states did not join it.
2. Three Lists: The Act divided the powers between the Centre and the units into three lists,
namely the Federal List, the Provincial List and the Concurrent List.
[i] Federal List for the Centre consisted of 59 items,
[ii] Provincial List for the provinces consisted of 54 items [Further divided: Tfd. & Reserved]
[iii]Concurrent List for both consisted of 36 items.
The residuary powers were vested with the Governor-General.
3. The Act abolished the Dyarchy in the Provinces and introduced ‘Provincial Autonomy’.
It provided for the adoption of Dyarchy at the Centre.
4. Introduced bicameralism in 6 out of 11 Provinces but it was not abslute.
[These six Provinces were Assam, Bengal, Bombay, Bihar, Madras and United Province.]
5. Provided for the establishment of Federal Court[actually estd. in 1937]
6. Abolished the Council of India and in its place established an Advisory body
7. It contained the Instruments of Instructions for Governors[Incorporated as DPSPs]
 Provincial Autonomy
• The most important feature of the Act was the introduction of provincial autonomy.
• It was a natural consequence of abolition of Dyarchy at provinces.
• The entire provincial administration was brought under responsible ministers who were
controlled and removed by the provincial legislatures on the basis of majority.
 The provincial autonomy meant two things.
[i]Provincial Governments were wholly answerable to the provincial
legislatures and
[ii]Provinces, were free from outside control and interference in a large
number of matters.
Thus, atleast in the provincial sphere, GoI Act of 1935 made a fundamental departure from the
GoI Act, 1919.

 The degree of autonomy was subject to important limitations:

[i]the provincial Governors retained important reserve powers, and
[ii]the British authorities also retained a right to suspend responsible govt.
This lingering fear of suspension acted in a counter-productive manner
 Dyarchy at the Centre
Governor General [acting On behalf of the Crown]

Interference
in the name of
Co-ordination
Transferred Subjects. Reserved Subjects
-Elected ministers[Not more than 10]. - Appointed Counsellors
- Advice of CoM could be over-ruled - Advice of his own nominees
- Subjects like welfare, Health - Subjects: Defence of India

- This provision of Dyarchy at the Centre never became operational

Borrowings from United States Constitution
1. Preamble
2. Fundamental Rights
3. Federal structure of government
4. Electoral College
5. Independence of the judiciary & separation of powers among the three
branches
6. Judicial review
7. President as supreme commander of armed forces
8. Equal Protection under law
Borrowings from British Constitution
1. Parliamentary form of government
2. The idea of single citizenship
3. The idea of the Rule of law
4. Institution of Speaker and his role
5. Lawmaking procedure
6. Procedure established by Law

Borrowings from Irish Constitution

Directive principles of state policy [Ireland itself borrowed it from Spain]

Australian Constitution
7. Freedom of trade and commerce within the country and between the states
8. Power of the national legislature to make laws for implementing treaties, even on
matters outside normal Federal jurisdiction
9. Concurrent List
Borrowings from French Constitution
1. Ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity

Borrowings from Canadian Constitution

1. A quasi-federal form of government — a federal system with a strong central
government
2. Distribution of powers between the central government and state governments
3. Residual powers retained by the central government

Borrowings from Constitution of the Soviet Union(USSR)

• Fundamental Duties

Borrowings from Other Constitutions

• Emergency Provision Under article 356Weimar Constitution(Germany)
• Amendment of Constitution South Africa
• Due Procedure of Law, Japan which we incorporated as Procedure estd. by
Law
[U/A 21]
 Previous Years’ Questions:
Q1.Consider the following statements:
1. The discussions in the Third Round Table Conference eventually led to the
passing of the Government of India Act of 1935.
2. The Government of India Act of 1935 provided for the establishment of an All India
Federation to be based on a Union of the provinces of British India and the Princely States.
Which of the above statements is/ are correct?

Q2. The "Instrument of Instructions" contained in the Government of India Act 1935 have
been incorporated in the Constitution of India in the year 1950 as A. Fundamental Rights
B. Directive Principles of State Policy
C. Extent of Executive Power
D. Conduct of Business of Govt. of India
Q3. With reference to the Simon Commission’s recommendations, which one
of the following statements is correct? [2010]
A. It recommended the replacement of diarchy with responsible
government in the province.
B. It proposed the setting up of inter - provincial council under the Home Department.
C. It suggested the abolition of bicameral legislature at the Centre.
D. It recommended the creation of Indian Police Service with a provision for increased pay
and allowances for British recruits and compared to Indian recruits.
[vi] Principle of Collective Responsibility: This is the bedrock principle of
Parliamentary Government[Article 75]. The ministers are collectively
responsible to the Parliament in general and to the Lok Sabha in particular.
[v] Double Membership: Ministers are members of both the the Legislature and

the Executive [i.e.y the term EXECUTATURE].