Team Ambedkar has provided checks & balances on elected leadership going against basic structure of COI

Institution of President as Preserver Protector Defender of COI weakened after Art-74 was amended during Emergency Team Ambedkar has provided checks & balances on elected leadership going against basic structure of COI

One may ask from whom President has to preserve, protect & defend constitution in terms of Art – 60 ?

Amendments made to Art-74 through 42nd and 44rth CAAs are not fair to the spirits of Oath enshrined in Art-80 of COI

Team Ambedkar has provided checks & balances in COI on Elected Leadership going Undemocratic/ Autocratic

With President as Head of ;State’ & Prime Minister as head of Govt. all actions are taken in name of President

President of India is designated on Oath as Preserver, Protector and Defender of Constitution

DAYA SAGAR

As per Constitution of India the Executive power of the Union ( Art 53 ) is vested in the President ( Art52) to be exercised either directly or through officers subordinate to him in accordance with the constitution and the supreme command ( Art ( Art 53 ) of the Defence Forces of the Union is vested in the President and the exercise thereof is to be be regulated by law. The executive head of the Government is designated as Prime Minister who has to be leader of the party / group that enjoyed the confidence of simple majority of total members in Lok Sabha and is appointed by the President.

President of India is head of the State ( Union) and is ‘part’ of Parliament along with the two houses of elected members (Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha). Article -79 (<There shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses to be known respectively as the Council of States and the House of the People>) . President of India though was incorporated as an ‘elected office’ but he/she is elected peoples representative ( Art 54) through indirect method of election i.e voted by the members of Lok Sabha ( elected by citizens of India directly) , voted by the members Rajya Sabha ( elected indirectly by citizens of India through their members in legislative Assemblies of States/ UTs ( elected by citizens directly) and the members of Legislative Assemblies of the States ( elected by the citi- zens by direct election) The President may, for violation of the Constitution, be removed ( Art 56-b ) from office by impeachment in the man- ner provided in article -61 and ( Art 56-c) the President shall, notwithstanding the expiration of his/her term, continue to hold office until his/her successor enters upon his office. Another very vital feature of COI as related to President of India.

The OATH that has to be taken by every President of India and every person acting as President or discharging the functions of the President before entering the Office of President of India is particularly mentioned as an Article of Constitution of India ( Art-60 < – “I, A.B., do swear in the name of God that I will faithfully execute the office solemnly affirm of President (or discharge the functions of the President) of India and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law and that I will devote myself to the service and well-being of the peo- ple of India.” > ) where as the oath that PRIME MINISTER has to take is mentioned in SCHEDULE-III [ as related to Articles 75(4), 99, 124(6), 148(2), 164(3), 188 and 219* Forms of Oaths or Affirmations ] which mentions the text of oaths for Minister/Prime Minister / Chief Justice (“…that I will uphold the Constitution and the laws”) / Justice of SC/Comptroller auditor General / Minister for State / Judge of High Court / MP/ MLA / oth- ers. Framers of constitution had laid basic spirits for democratic republic of India , that is Bharat, in the Directive Principles of State Policy as well as the objectives set out in the Preamble to the Constitution and PRESI- DENT of India Democratic Republic had been spirited the task of preserving, protecting & defending The Constitution.

Art-77 of Constitution ( Conduct of business of the Government of India that lays down that all executive action of the Government of India shall be expressed to be taken in the name of the President…) and the like provi- sions too well reflect what a constitutionally important STATUS the 1st Citizen of India ( President) has been provided in who had to pre- serve, protect & defend the Constitution of India.

One may ask from whom The President of India has to preserve, protect and defend the constitution in terms oath ( Art – 60 ) that is taken before entering office ? Ofcourse the answer could be that the elders who drafted the constitution of India were conscious enough that those who get elected for a term and constitute the two houses of Parliament of which President of India is also a part may in their wisdom “acci- dently” operate upon the constitution through Art-368 or conduct the affairs of the State in a way that may not be in the spirits of the basic structure / common welfare intentions/ democratic parliamentary system and hence there may arise need for preserving , protecting and defending the COI even from two elected houses & may be the “Executive”. It is also pertinent to mention here that Constitution creates the Parliament through Art-79 and hence Parliament has to be guided/ “governed” by the basic spirits / structure laid in the Constitution and hence has no unbridled powers/ delegations to operate on constitution under Art-368. Not only that ,the President of India has also been well protected against any otherwise intentions of “those” elected by the citizens of India for a particular term ( five Yrs) who may not assume to their self ultimate authority once elected and even overstep their delegations / confidence imposed by voter citizen which could be well read from the provisions as made as regards impeachment of President (Art-61: Procedure for impeachment of the President ).

To Be Continued

(The writer is Sr Journalist, social activist and analyst J&K affairs)