The powers and function of the President :
According to the constitution, the President is the highest office bearer of the country; He acts as the Head of the nation.
The powers of the President can be divided into two parts:
I. General Powers
II. Crisis / Emergency powers
I. General Powers:
Following are the general powers of the President.
1. Executive Powers :
Being the President of the federal executive, the President is the supreme commander of the armed forces. He has right to declare or peace at any time. As right of appointment, the President appoints Ministers, Governors, ambassadors, judges of the state High Court and Supreme Court judges, members of the Union Public service commission, Attorney General, Election Commissioner, Comptroller and Auditor General, Chairman of Scheduled Caste / Tribal Commission, heads of Minorities and Backward Classes Commission, etc.
2. Legislative Powers :
The National federal legislative is formed by both the Houses of the Parliament and the President, the Powers of the President in this regard are as follows:
- He works to summon, postpone and prorogate both the Houses. The President has the power to dissolve the Lok Sabha.
- He can convene a joint meeting of the two houses on a disputed bill.
- He nominates 2 members in the Lok Sabha and 12 members in the Rajya Sabha.
- The President gives the address at the beginning of the new session every year and after the formation of the new Lok sabha on the first session.
- The signature of the President is compulsory on each bill passed in the parliament.
- The President has the right to issue an ordinance under Article 123.
- The President’s Rule can be implemented, in case of constitutional mechanism failure in states under article 356.
3. Judicial Powers:
Under section 72, the President has the powers of reducing the sentence of a convicted person, suspending sentence, waiving off the death sentence, etc.
4. Financial powers :
Prior to the start of each financial year, the annual financial statement and supplementary budget to be presented on the table of the Parliament comes under the authority of the President. No money bill can be presented in parliament without the permission of the President. He distributes the receipts of income tax between the states and the center. In emergency, the task of extracting money from contingency funds, is made by the President. He has the right to appoint finance commission.
II. Emergency Powers :
Emergency powers Eire described under article 352, 356 and 360. The Financial emergency can be implemented in National level under Article 352, and in state level in the form of ‘President Rule’ under Article 356 and 360 :
Under Article 352 of the constitution, it has been mentioned that when the President believes that there is a crisis for of the security of India or any part of India due to external aggression or armed internal rebellion, then he can declare an emergency in the entire country or any part of it.
- Constitutional failure in states :
In Article 356 of the constitution, it has been mentioned that the President can declare constitutional crisis in a state on the basis of the report submitted by the governor of the state or if he believes that the state is not being governed according to the provision of the constitution, such announcement of the President will be placed within 2 months before parliament where approval by both houses is necessary. The President’s rule cannot remain for more than 3 years in any state in any situation.
under Article 360 of the constitution, it is mentioned that if the President believes that the financial stability or good will of India or any part of it is in crisis then he can declare an emergency in the country or any part of it. Approval of such announcement is necessary within 2 months from the Parliament. The salary can be deducted of all officers including the judges, at the time of financial emergency. However, there has been no need to apply a single financial emergency till date in the country.
In conclusion, it can be said that, in normal times and in times of crises, the President enjoys broad powers but he does not make actual use of these powers. Due to constitutional provisions and traditions, he can use these powers only on the advice of the Prime Minister and the council of ministers. For this reason, the President is a symbol of honour, being the head of the nation but is not a symbol of power being the head of government.
