Union Executive, Parliament, Federalism and the Judiciary · RAS (Rajasthan)

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, Paper III (General Studies III), Unit I - Indian Polity, Governance, India and International Affairs and Current Affairs, under the heading “Institutional Framework & Governance Mechanisms”:

President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Council of Ministers, and Parliament.
Emerging trends in Federalism in India.
Supreme Court, High Courts, Judicial Review, Judicial Activism, Virtual Court, eCourts and e-Committee.

Topics in detail

President

Election by an electoral college of elected members of Parliament and of state assemblies (Articles 54, 55); qualifications, term, impeachment (Article 61)
Executive, diplomatic and military powers; appointments
Legislative powers: summoning and prorogation, dissolution of the Lok Sabha, assent to bills and the kinds of veto (absolute, suspensive, pocket), ordinances (Article 123)
Pardoning power (Article 72) and its judicial review
Emergency powers: national (Article 352), state (Article 356), financial (Article 360)
Position: aid and advice of the Council of Ministers (Article 74, as amended in 1976 and 1978); situations calling for the President's judgment

Vice-President

Election by members of both Houses (Article 66); ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (Article 64)
Acting as President (Article 65); removal (Article 67)

Prime Minister and Council of Ministers

Appointment (Article 75); collective responsibility to the Lok Sabha and individual responsibility
Size limited to 15% of the Lok Sabha's strength (91st Amendment, 2003); Cabinet ministers, Ministers of State, Deputy Ministers
Cabinet committees, the Cabinet Secretariat and the Prime Minister's Office
The Prime Minister's role: leader of the Council, link with the President, chair of NITI Aayog

Parliament

Composition (Article 79): Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha; presiding officers; special powers of the Rajya Sabha (Articles 249, 312)
Law-making: ordinary bills, Money Bills (Article 110), financial bills, constitutional amendment bills; joint sitting (Article 108)
Budget: annual financial statement (Article 112), demands for grants, cut motions, Appropriation and Finance Bills
Devices of accountability: Question Hour, Zero Hour, calling attention, adjournment and no-confidence motions
Committees: Public Accounts, Estimates, Public Undertakings, department-related standing committees, joint committees
Parliamentary privileges (Article 105); concerns about fewer sittings and less scrutiny of bills

Emerging trends in federalism

Constitutional design: “Union of States” (Article 1), the Seventh Schedule, distribution of legislative powers (Articles 245 to 254), unitary features
Cooperative and competitive federalism; NITI Aayog's indices ranking states
Fiscal federalism: the Finance Commission (Article 280), GST and the GST Council (Article 279A), centrally sponsored schemes, cesses and surcharges outside the divisible pool, borrowing limits of states
The Governor: assent to state bills and reservation for the President (Articles 200, 201); use of Article 356 after S. R. Bommai (1994)
Forums: the Inter-State Council (Article 263), zonal councils (Rajasthan is in the Northern Zonal Council), inter-state river water disputes (Article 262)
Commissions on Centre-state relations: Sarkaria (1988) and Punchhi (2010)
New debates: simultaneous elections, delimitation, role of central agencies in the states

Supreme Court and High Courts

Composition and appointment of judges (Articles 124, 217); the collegium system from the Judges cases (1981, 1993, 1998); the NJAC struck down (2015)
Removal of judges (Article 124(4)) and the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968
Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court: original (Article 131), writ (Article 32), appellate and special leave (Articles 132 to 134, 136), advisory (Article 143); court of record (Article 129); complete justice (Article 142)
High Courts: writ jurisdiction (Article 226), superintendence (Article 227), control over subordinate courts (Articles 233 to 237)
Pendency, vacancies and access to justice

Judicial review and judicial activism

Bases of judicial review: Articles 13, 32 and 226; review of laws, amendments and executive action
Judicial activism: public interest litigation and relaxed locus standi (S. P. Gupta, 1981), letters treated as petitions, continuing mandamus
Judicial overreach and judicial restraint; separation of powers

Virtual courts, eCourts and the e-Committee

e-Committee of the Supreme Court (set up in 2004) and the eCourts Mission Mode Project in three phases
National Judicial Data Grid: case data and pendency open to the public
e-filing, e-payment of court fees, e-summons, video-conferencing hearings
Virtual courts for online disposal of petty traffic offences
Live-streaming of hearings, translation of judgments into Indian languages, e-Sewa Kendras
Challenges: digital divide, connectivity, data security, training of judges and staff

Overlaps

The Union Government, Union-state relations and emergency provisions are in the Prelims; the administrative side of Union-state relations is in Union Government and Administrative Institutions.