Showing posts with label Supreme Court of the United States. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Supreme Court of the United States. Show all posts

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Executive powers of President of INDIA

Edited version of :en:Image:Vin7.jpg (now move...Image via Wikipedia

Executive powers

The Constitution vests in the President of India all the executive powers of the Central Government. The President appoints as Prime Minister the person most likely to command the support of the majority in the Lok Sabha (usually the leader of the majority party or coalition). The President then appoints the other members of the Council of Ministers, distributing portfolios to them on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Council of Ministers remains in power during the 'pleasure' of the President. In practice, however, the Council of Ministers must retain the support of the Lok Sabha. If a President were to dismiss the Council of Ministers on his or her own initiative, it might trigger a constitutional crisis. Thus, in practice, the Council of Ministers cannot be dismissed as long as it commands the support of a majority in the Lok Sabha. The President is responsible for making a wide variety of appointments. These include:
The President also receives the credentials of Ambassadors and High Commissioners from other countries. The President is the de jure Commander in Chief of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of Indiareduce the sentence of a convicted person, particularly in cases involving punishment of death. The decisions involving pardoning and other rights by the president are independent of the opinion of the Prime Minister or the Lok Sabha majority. In most other cases, however, the President exercises his or her executive powers on the advice of the Prime Minister. 

Writs & Their Types

Habeas Corpus, 1986Image via Wikipedia
As per the Right to Constitutional Remedies-Articles 32-35, A citizen has right to move to the courts for securing the fundamental rights. Citizens can go to the Supreme Court or the high Courts for getting their fundamental rights enforced. It empowers the Courts to issue directions or orders or writs for this purpose.
Types of Writs:
  1. Habeas corpus means “to have the body .“ It is in the nature of an order calling upon a person who has unlawfully detained another person to produce the latter before the court.
  2. Mandamus literally means command. It is thus an order of a superior court commanding a person holding a public office or a public authority- (including the Government) to do or not to do something, in the nature of public duty.
  3. Prohibition- A writ of prohibition is issued by a superior court to an inferior court or tribunal to prevent it from exceeding its jurisdiction and to compel it to keep within the limits of its jurisdiction.
  4. Certiorari - A writ of certiorari has much in common with a writ of prohibition. The only difference between the two is, whereas a writ of prohibition is issued to prevent an inferior court or tribunal to go ahead with the trial of a case in which it has assumed excess of jurisdiction, a writ of certiorari is issued to quash the order passed by an inferior court or tribunal in excess of jurisdiction.
  5. Quo Warranto - The words quo warranto means “what is your authority” ? A writ of quo warranto is issued against the holder of a public office to show to the court under what authority he holds the office.