The Union Executive Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The decision is D.C. Wadhwa v. State of Bihar (1987).

Dr D.C. Wadhwa showed that Bihar had kept many ordinances alive for years by re-promulgating them, without ever placing them before the Legislature, some over a period of more than a decade. A Constitution Bench held that this practice was a fraud on the Constitution and a subversion of the democratic legislative process, and struck down the re-promulgated ordinance.

Krishna Kumar Singh (2017) is the trap: a seven-judge bench reaffirmed and extended the Wadhwa principle, but the phrase originated in Wadhwa. R.C. Cooper is the bank nationalisation case, and Shamsher Singh held that the President and Governors act on ministerial advice.

Answer: B

The answer is Only B is correct.

Statement A is wrong: Article 57 makes a person who holds or has held the office of President eligible for re-election, and Dr Rajendra Prasad was in fact elected twice.

Statement B is correct: Article 53(2) vests the supreme command of the Defence Forces of the Union in the President, its exercise to be regulated by law.

Under Article 56 the President holds office for five years, and the electoral college that chooses him is set out in Article 54.

Answer: D

The one not so elected is the Speaker of Lok Sabha.

Under Article 93, the Lok Sabha chooses its Speaker from among its own members by a simple majority vote of the House. No proportional representation is involved.

The other three are elected by proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote: the President by an electoral college of elected MPs and MLAs (Article 55), the Vice-President by members of both Houses of Parliament (Article 66), and the representatives of the states in the Rajya Sabha by the elected members of each state's Legislative Assembly (Article 80).

Answer: C

The statement that is not correct is The electoral college includes the elected members of the State Legislative Assemblies.

Under Article 66, the Vice-President is elected by an electoral college of the members of both Houses of Parliament only, elected and nominated members alike. State legislators have no part in it.

This is the key difference from the President's election, where the elected members of the State Legislative Assemblies do vote but nominated members of Parliament do not. The other statements are correct, including that disputes over the Vice-President's election are decided by the Supreme Court under Article 71.

Answer: C

Ministers must be a member of either House of Parliament.

Under Article 75(5) a minister who for six consecutive months is not a member of either House ceases to be a minister at the end of that period. So a minister may come from the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, and a non-member can be appointed only on condition of entering Parliament within six months.

Members of the Rajya Sabha are regularly ministers, so 'Lok Sabha only' and 'must not be member of Rajya Sabha' are wrong. Membership of a state assembly does not count.

Answer: A

The provision is Article 74.

Article 74(1) provides that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at its head to aid and advise the President, who shall act in accordance with such advice, though he may ask it to reconsider once.

Article 75 deals with the appointment, tenure and collective responsibility of ministers, Article 76 with the Attorney General, and Article 78 with the Prime Minister's duty to keep the President informed.

Answer: C

The wrong statement is absolute power to appoint inferior officers.

The President's powers are exercised on the advice of the Council of Ministers (Article 74), and appointments to the services are governed by law and rules made under the Constitution. So the President has no absolute power to appoint officers, and the word 'absolute' makes the statement wrong.

The other three are genuine powers. The President appoints ministers on the Prime Minister's advice (Article 75). Article 72 empowers the President to pardon in cases of sentence by court martial. Article 85 empowers the President to summon each House of Parliament.

Answer: B

The answer is the Attorney General of India.

Under Article 76(3), in performing his duties the Attorney General has the right of audience in all courts in the territory of India. He may also take part in Parliament's proceedings without a vote (Article 88).

The Advocate General is a state's law officer (Article 165) and has no such all-India right. The Minister for Law is a member of the executive, not a law officer, and the Speaker presides over the Lok Sabha.

Answer: C

The President acted under Article 72, Part V.

Article 72 gives the President the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment, or to suspend, remit or commute sentences, including in every case where the sentence is a sentence of death. The mercy petitions of the Nirbhaya convicts were decided under this power, and rejected.

Article 70 deals with the discharge of the President's functions in other contingencies, Article 71 with disputes about the election of the President, and Article 74 with the Council of Ministers that aids and advises the President.

Answer: C

The Attorney General is appointed by the President.

Under Article 76, the President appoints a person qualified to be a Supreme Court judge as Attorney General for India. The Attorney General is the government's chief legal adviser and holds office during the pleasure of the President.

The appointment is made on the advice of the Union Cabinet led by the Prime Minister, but the formal appointing authority is the President. The Lok Sabha has no role in it.