Institutions of governance – the Parliament, the President, the Judiciary, the Executive, etc. get their power from the Constitution and are bound by it. With the aid of the Constitution, India is governed by a parliamentary system of government with the executive directly accountable to the legislature. It states that there shall be a President of India who shall be the head of the executive, under Articles 52 and 53. The President’s duty is to preserve, protect and defend the constitution and the law under Article 60 of the Indian constitution. Article 74 provides that there shall be a Prime Minister as the head of union cabinet which would aid and advise the President in performing his constitutional duty. Union cabinet is collectively responsible to the House of the People per Article 75(3).
The Constitution of India is federal in nature but unitary in spirit. The common features of a federation such as written Constitution, supremacy of Constitution, rigidity of Constitution, two government, division of powers, bicameralism and independent judiciary as well as unitary features like single Constitution, single citizenship, integrated judiciary, flexible Constitution, a strong Centre, appointment of state governor by the Centre, All-India Services, Emergency Provisions etc. can be seen in Indian Constitution. This unique combination makes it quasi-federal in form.
Each state and each Union territory of India has its own government. Analogous to President and Prime Minister, each has a Governor (in case of states) or Lieutenant Governor (in the case of Union territories) and a Chief Minister. Article 356 permits the President to dismiss a state government and assume direct authority when a situation has arisen in which the Government of the State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. This power, known as President’s rule, was abused earlier as state governments came to be dismissed on the flimsiest of grounds, and more due to the political discomfiture of the party in power at the centre. Post – Bommai judgment, such a course of action has been rendered rather difficult, as the courts have asserted their right to review it. Consequently, very few state governments have been disbanded since.
