Council of Ministers – Indian Polity Notes

Table of Contents

Council of Ministers (CoM) is the real executive provided under Article 74 of the Indian Constitution. Each individual minister is responsible for specific department known as portfolio. Portfolio system can be traced back to Lord Canning, who introduced it in India in 1861.

Appointment:

According to the Constitution of India, members of Council of Ministers is appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister under Article 74 of the Indian constitution.

Eligibility:

To be part of the council of ministers, individual needs to be a member of either house of the Parliament (MP).
According to Article 75(5), If an individual is not an MP, still he/she can be appointed as minister for 6 months.
Within 6 months of being appointed as minister, they have to get elected/nominated to either of the houses of parliament. Otherwise, they cease to hold ministerial office.

E.g. Former PM HD Dewe Gowda, S Jaishankar, Arun Jaitley were not MPs during the oath-taking ceremony of the government.

Strength:

According to Article 75 (1A) added by the 91st constitutional amendment 2003, the total number of ministers including the Prime Minister, in the council of ministers, shall not exceed 15% of the total number of members of the house of people i.e. Lok Sabha.
The present strength of Lok Sabha is 543(after the discontinuation of the nomination of Anglo Indians by the 104th constitutional amendment 2019). So maximum possible size of the union council of ministers is 81.

Composition:

Union council of ministers has three types of ministers- cabinet ministers, ministers of state with independent charge and ministers of state.

Most important departments are headed by Cabinet Ministers. They are involved in important decision-making.
Ministers of state with independent charge are given those departments which are not significant enough to be headed by Cabinet Minister.
Ministers of State are appointed to assist cabinet ministers. They work under the portfolio allotted to cabinet ministers.

Tenure:

According to the constitution under Article 75(2),(3), the Union council of ministers continues to hold office at the pleasure of the President.

In practice, the council of ministers continues till it holds a majority in the Lok Sabha.

Removal:

Ministers are individually accountable to the President (in practice to the Prime Minister) and the entire council of ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha under Article 75(3).
Which means, the individual minister can be removed by the President on recommendation by the PM.
If the ruling party/coalition loses the majority in the Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister has to resign.
Prime Minister’s resignation is considered the resignation of the entire council as they are collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha.

Office of Deputy Prime Minister:

Neither Constitution of India nor the rules of business speak explicitly about the office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
But, the office has been created mostly due to coalition compulsion. This office can be created at the discretion of the Prime Minister.
India had 7 deputy prime ministers, starting from Dy PM Sardar Patel to the last Dy PM L K Advani

The debate between the Council of Ministers and Cabinet:

Constitution before 44th Constitutional Amendment, 1978 didn’t had any mention of word ‘cabinet’. It was added in article 352 relating to emergency provisions mainly to curb the discretion of the Prime Minister with respect to recommending imposition of emergency.

Council of Ministers is large body which seldom(rarely) meets. Its meetings are called at discretion of the Prime Minister.
Whereas Cabinet is small grouping of 10-15 senior ministers. The Prime Minister seeks advices of these senior ministers in policy framing.
It is ultimate decision making body of the government. Given its small size, frequent meetings are held in which key policy decisions are taken.
The cabinet also functions as ‘the prime legislative making body’ of the government as it decides summoning of parliament, duration of session, agenda of sessions, bills to be passed in the session, budget preparation etc.
Decision of cabinet are binding on all minister. Those who are unable to defend and implement decisions of cabinet can be removed by President (on recommendation of the Prime Minister).
During recess of the Parliament, it’s is the cabinet which on behalf of the council of ministers drafts the ordinances which are promulgated by the President in exercise of powers under article 123.

Cabinet Committees:

To ease the work of the cabinet, the cabinet committees are formed by the Prime Minister. They make recommendations on key policy matters. In 2019, 8 cabinet committees were formed.

1. Cabinet Committee on Appointment chaired by Prime Minister

2. Cabinet Committee on Accommodation chaired by Home Minister

3. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister

4. Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs chaired by Defense Minister

5. Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs chaired by Prime Minister. It is ‘nerve center’ of the government.

6. Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by Prime Minister

7. Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth chaired by Prime Minister

8. Cabinet Committee on Employment and Skill Development chaired by Prime Minister.

In summary, due to impracticality in holding frequent meetings, cabinet is hold prominence over council of ministers. As cabinet is headed by senior ministers who are in charge of key portfolios.

They tender advice to the Prime Minister and collectively take key policy decisions.

Cabinet surpasses the council of ministers in terms of importance. It is evident from, for imposition of national emergency under article 352, written recommendation of ministers of cabinet rank is to be submitted to the President.

Concept of Shadow and Kitchen Cabinet:

Shadow Cabinet and Kitchen Cabinet both terms are not defined in the constitution.

Shadow Cabinet:

Shadow Cabinet is concept of purely British in origin.
In British Parliament, along with ruling cabinet led by the Prime Minister. There is practice of appointing parallel cabinet known as shadow cabinet by the members of opposition.

It performs functions such as:

The shadow cabinet keeps check on actual cabinets working making them answerable for their acts on the floor of the house.
Further, shadow cabinet is ‘government in waiting’ which means in case ruling coalition loses majority, the shadow cabinet upon proving their majority can assume the office of cabinet ministers. The shadow cabinet is led by Leader of Opposition who is known as ‘Prime Minister in waiting’.

Though shadow cabinet doesn’t have any real executive powers, they are paid equivalent to the cabinet so straining public fund without any executive roles. Further shadow cabinet ministers may or may not appointed on same portfolio when they form government.

Kitchen Cabinet

Kitchen cabinet is informal grouping of 3-4 cabinet ministers and individuals who are not ministers on whom the Prime Minister has complete faith and can discuss wide array of issues.
Its size is not defined anywhere but in practice it’s smaller than actual cabinet. Mostly member are less than 5.

Probably all Prime Ministers have resorted to Kitchen cabinet on the basis of its merits, which are:

Expedited decision making than large cabinet,
Helps maintains secrecy,
Since it can meet more often than actual cabinet, it is more efficient.

However, it bypasses the cabinet which is ultimate decision making body of the government and it also allows outsiders to interfere into policy matters which could have negative implications for the nation.

Cabinet Secretariat:

It is the institution created to cater and support the working of the cabinet, cabinet committees and also the Prime Minister.
Since the Prime Minister is chair of the cabinet, the cabinet secretariat works under direction of the Prime Minister.
It is led by Cabinet Secretary, who is senior IAS officer and also acts as principal advisor to the Prime Minister.

Wings of Cabinet Secretariat:

1. Civil Wing: Provides secretarial assistance to cabinet, cabinet committees and Prime Minister.

2. Military Wing: Provides secretarial assistance to the defense committee of cabinet, National Security Council etc.

3. Intelligence Wing: Assists Research & Analysis Wing(R&AW).

4. Directorate of Public Grievance: Address citizen grievances

5. National Authority Chemical Weapons Convention

6. Office of Principal Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister.

Functions:

1. It provides secretarial assistance to the cabinet. It also ensures inter-ministerial coordination.

2. Cabinet secretariat ensures that the President and the Vice President are informed about key policy decisions of various departments via monthly reports.

3. management of various crises and coordination of ministries under such situations.

Cabinet Secretary:

He is the senior-most position an IAS officer can occupy.
Placed on 11 rank in order of precedence.
The cabinet secretary is provided with assured tenure of 2 years which can be extended by 2 more years.
The cabinet secretary is often regarded as the conscience keeper of the civil service of the nation.
He/she also acts as a buffer between the political executive and permanent executive (civil servants) protecting both from undue interference other.
He heads Civil Services Board which advises the Cabinet Committee on Appointments.

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