RAS question
Under Article 74(1), the President shall act in accordance with the advice of the Council of Ministers. This provision was made mandatory by:
Correct answer: (C) 42nd Amendment Act, 1976.
The Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976 made it mandatory under Article 74(1) for the President to act in accordance with the advice of the Council of Ministers.
Explanation
Article 74 deals with the Council of Ministers aiding and advising the President. The Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976 substituted Article 74(1) to say that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President, and that the President shall, in exercising his functions, act in accordance with such advice. That is the mandatory element being tested here. The later Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978 did not create the binding rule; it inserted the safeguard that the President may require the Council of Ministers to reconsider its advice once. After reconsideration, however, the President must act in accordance with the advice tendered.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) The 73rd Amendment Act, 1992 is not the source of the mandatory wording in Article 74(1).
- (B) The original Constitution did provide for a Council of Ministers to aid and advise the President, but the explicit requirement that the President act in accordance with that advice came through the 42nd Amendment.
- (D) The 44th Amendment Act, 1978 added the President's power to seek reconsideration once; it did not first make ministerial advice binding.
Concept
This tests the constitutional position of the President within the parliamentary executive. RAS repeatedly asks this because Article 74 is central to distinguishing the President's formal authority from the Council of Ministers' real executive responsibility.