The Union Executive Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The NDMA is headed by the Prime Minister.

The National Disaster Management Authority was set up under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, as the apex body for laying down disaster-management policies, plans and guidelines. Section 3 of the Act makes the Prime Minister its chairperson, ex officio. In the same way, each State Disaster Management Authority is chaired by the Chief Minister.

The Union Home Minister and the Union Home Secretary have important roles in the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is the nodal ministry for disasters, but neither heads the NDMA. The President has no executive role in it.

Answer: B

The President's pardoning power is in Article 72.

Article 72 empowers the President to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment, and to suspend, remit or commute sentences, including in cases of a death sentence and court-martial. Governors have a similar but narrower power under Article 161.

Article 71 deals with disputes about the President's election, Article 73 with the extent of the Union's executive power, and Article 74 with the Council of Ministers that aids and advises the President.

Answer: D

A presidential candidate must be at least 35 years of age.

Article 58 of the Constitution requires a candidate for President to be a citizen of India, to have completed 35 years of age, and to be qualified for election as a member of the Lok Sabha.

18 years is the voting age. 21 years was the old voting age and is now the minimum age for some other offices, and 25 years is the minimum age for a member of the Lok Sabha or a state Legislative Assembly.

Answer: B

The President addresses the resignation to the Vice-President.

Article 56(1)(a) of the Constitution provides that the President may resign by writing under his hand addressed to the Vice-President. The Vice-President must then communicate the resignation to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

The Speaker is informed but does not receive the letter. The Chief Justice of India administers the oath of office and the Prime Minister heads the council of ministers; neither has a role in the President's resignation. Conversely, the Vice-President resigns to the President (Article 67).

Answer: B

The Vice-President is ex officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha.

Article 64 provides that the Vice-President shall be ex officio Chairman of the Council of States and shall hold no other office of profit. He presides over the House but is not one of its members.

The Chairman of the Finance Commission is appointed by the President under Article 280 for each Commission, and the Committee of Privileges is a parliamentary committee with its own chair. Neither office goes with the Vice-Presidency, so 'None of the above' is also wrong.

Answer: A

The guardian of the public purse is The Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

The CAG, appointed under Article 148, audits all receipts and expenditure of the Union and the States and reports to Parliament and the state legislatures. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar called the office probably the most important in the Constitution for this reason.

Parliament authorises spending and the Reserve Bank manages currency and banking, but neither audits the government's accounts. The Supreme Court guards the Constitution, not the public finances.

Answer: A

That the satisfaction of the President means the satisfaction of the Council of Ministers was held in Samsher Singh v. State of Punjab (1974).

A seven-judge bench held that the President and the Governors act on the aid and advice of their Council of Ministers in all their functions, so the satisfaction mentioned in the Constitution is that of the Council, and not a personal satisfaction.

U.N. Rao v. Indira Gandhi was about the Prime Minister continuing in office after the dissolution of the Lok Sabha. Ram Jawaya Kapoor v. State of Punjab dealt with the extent of executive power. Sardari Lal v. Union of India was a case on dismissal under Article 311 and is the weaker choice, since the key names Samsher Singh as the leading authority.