Constitution

An Analytical Study on The Duties and Powers of The Vice-President Under The Constitution of India, 1949

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE

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1. Student’s Declaration…………………… Declaration………………………………………………… ………………………………………………..2 …………………..2 2. Certificate…………… Certificate………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ……………………………………....3 ………....3 3. Acknowledgement………………………………………………………………………...4 4. List of Abbreviations………………………… Abbreviations…………………………………………………… ……………………………………….......6 …………….......6 5. Chapter 1- Introduction …………………………………………………………………..7 6. Chapter 2- Present Study………...…………………….…… Study………...…………………….…………………………...…....12 ……………………...…....12 7. Chapter 3- Findings and Observations………………………………………………......14 Observations………………………………………………......14 8. Chapter 4- Conclusion……………………………………………........... Conclusion……………………………………………...................................19 ........................19 9. Chapter 5- Bibliography…………………………………………………………………20

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1. e.g. : Exampli Gratia 2. i.e. : that is 3.  No. : Number  4. Org : Organization 5. Ors : Others 6. Anr.: Another  7.  p.g : Page 8. Sec : Section 9. Art.: Article 10. v. : Versus 11. www : World Wide Web 12. &: and

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Chapter-1 Introduction Article 63 of the Constitution of India provides that there shall be a Vice-President of  India. He shall be the ex-officio Chairman of the Council of States under Article 64. It is he who has to act s President in the event of any vacancy in the office of the President by reason of his death, resignation or removal. However, he acts for limited period only. Likewise, when the President is unable to discharge his functions owing to absence, illness or any other cause, the Vice-President discharges the functions of the President 1

until the date on which the President resumes his duties in the office . The current Vice President of India is Hamid Ansari, since 11 August 2007, and reelected on 7 August 2012 with the appointment by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee2. The vice president must be familiar with all the responsibilities of the President and must  be ready to preside when called on. At all times the vice president should work in close 3

cooperation with the President . The Vice-President of India is the second highest constitutional office in the country. He serves for a five-year term, but can continue to be in office, irrespective of the expiry of  the term, until the successor assumes office. The Constitution is silent on who performs the duties of the Vice-President, when a vacancy occurs in the office of the Vice-President of India, before the expiry of his term, 1

V.N.Shukla, Constitution of India, 11 ed., Eastern Book Company, Lucknow

th

2

http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/welcome.html

3

M.P.Jain, Indian Constitutiona Law, Nagpur, Lexus Nexus B utterworth, Wadhwa

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or when the Vice-President acts as the President of India. The only provision in the Constitution is with regard to the Vice-President 's function as the Chairperson of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha), which is performed, during the period of such vacancy,  by the Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, or any other member of the Rajya Sabha authorised by the President of India. The Vice-President may resign his office by submitting his resignation to the President of  India. The resignation becomes effective from the day it is accepted. The Vice-President can be removed from office by a resolution of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha), passed by a majority of its members at that time and agreed to by the House of the People (Lok Sabha) 4. A resolution for this purpose may be moved only after  a notice of at least a minimum of 14 days has been given of such an intention. The Vice-President is the ex-officio Chairperson of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha ) and does not hold any other office of profit. During any period when the Vice-President acts as, or discharges the functions of the President, he does not perform the duties of the office of the Chairperson of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and, is not entitled to any salary or allowances payable to the Chairperson, Rajya Sabha. By Art. 69, Every Vice-President shall, before entering upon his office, make and subscribe before the President, or some person appointed in that behalf by him, an oath or  affirmation in the following form, that is to say - "I, A.B., do swear in the name of God /solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as  by law established and that I will discharge the duty upon which I am about to enter." In government, a vice president is a person whose primary responsibility is to replace the  president on the event of his or her death, resignation or incapacity. Vice presidents are

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H.M.Seervai, Constitutional Law of India, 2002

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either elected jointly with the president as his or her  running mate, elected separately, or  5

appointed independently after the president 's election . Most, but not all, governments with vice presidents have only one person in this role at any time. If the president is not present, dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to fulfill his or her duties, the vice president will generally serve as president. In many  presidential systems, the vice president does not wield much day-to-day political power, but is still considered an important member of the cabinet. Several vice presidents in the Americas held the position of  President of the Senate; this is the case, for example, in Argentina, the United States, and Uruguay. The vice president sometimes assumes some of the ceremonial duties of the president, such as attending functions and events that the actual  president may be too busy to attend; the Vice President of the United States, for example, often attends funerals of world leaders on behalf of the President 6. In this capacity, the vice president may thus assume the role of a de facto symbolic head of state, a position which is lacking in a system of government where the powers of head of state and government are fused. The Constitution of India provides for a Vice-President whose role in the Government is comparatively insignificant. This office is sometimes compared with the office of the American Vice-President who is addressed as "His Superfluous Highness" for his meaningless presence in the administrative and constitutional set up. The office of the Vice President in India created under Article 63 provides for a responsible and experienced person to work as President temporarily when the latter is not in a position to function because of certain contingencies like resignation, death, impeachment, long absence an etc.

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http://www.facts-about-india.com/vice-presidents-tenure.php

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J.N.Pandey, The Constitutional Law of India, 45

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Ed., Central Law Agency

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The Vice President is elected indirectly by an electoral college consisting of the members of both the Houses of Parliament. The election is held in accordance with the system of   proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote by secret ballot. All disputes regarding the election of the Vice President are settled by the Supreme Court. The members of the Parliament or State Legislative Assembly cannot be Vice-President of India. If a member of either Parliament or any State Legislative is elected to the 7

August office he has to resign his membership before assuming the office . The Vice President holds office for five years from the date on which he enters upon his office, of course, if he does not resign earlier. The resolution to impeach the VicePresident can only be initiated in the Rajya Sabha. Such a motion must be passed by the majority members of Rajya Sabha and agreed upon by the majority members in the Lok  Sabha. The Rajya Sabha has to serve a notice to the Vice President of India 14 days  before moving such a resolution. Rajya Sabha has been given this exclusive power to initiate the motion of impeachment of the vice-president who happens to be its presiding officer or chairman. He receives his salary as chairman of Rajya Sabha not as vice president. The vice-president is known as the President in-waiting. Because he takes over the office of the President for a period of six months at best whenever the office falls vacant by reason of his death, resignation or impeachment. Election to the office must be conducted within six months from the date of vacancy. When he acts as the President of India he enjoys all the powers, privileges and immunities of the President. He also receives the salary and allowance as determined for the President of India 8.

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http://www.meritnation.com/discuss/question/373135

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http://www.publishyourarticles.net/knowledge-hub/political-science/what-are-the-powers-of-the-vice-

president-of-india.html

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Besides acting as the President of India in his absence another important function of the Vice-President is to act as the Chairman of the Council of States and as such he is comparable with the speaker of Lok Sabha 9, Enjoying the same honour and the powers. He may travel to foreign countries as the representative of the President to represent India on in any matters of neighbourly relations. The office of the Vice-President of India has been one of great honour and prestige. Eminent person of great stature have been occupying this second highest office of the country since independence. Usually the incumbents this office are elevated to the office of the President, though not as a matter of Principle 10. The Vice-President is elected under the Article 63 of the Constitution. The VicePresident like the President is elected indirectly. Qualifications: (i) He must be a citizen of India. (ii) He must have completed the age of 35 years. (iii) He must be eligible to be elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha. (iv) He must not hold any office of profit under any government.

Election of the Vice-President: The Vice-President of India is elected by the members of   both Houses of Parliament in accordance with the system of proportional representation  by means of a single transferable vote system and the voting at such election shall be by secret ballot.

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P.P.Bhattacharya, “President of India Vis -à-vis Union Council of Ministers : Constitutional Position- An Overview”,

Dec 1995 10

http://vicepresidentofindia.nic.in/const.asp

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Term of Office:

The Vice-President is elected for the term five years. The period of five years starts from the date on which he enters upon his office. He is eligible for re-election. However, he may resign11 even before the completion of his tenure by writing to President.

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H.M.Seervai, Constitutional Law of India, 2002

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Chapter-2 Present Study

Statement of Problem This research has been done in order to analyse the provisions given in the Constitution of India regarding the duties and powers given to the Vice-President of India. What special privileges, if any, are provided to the Vice-President of India.

Objectives 

To know the powers of a vice-president as directed under the Indian Constitution.

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To know the duties of a vice-president as directed under the Indian Constitution.

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To know how a vice-president is elected in India in detail.

Methodology The project is a Doctrinal Research project and follows a descriptive and analytical form of  writing. Keeping this in view the researcher utilized the resources like print and electronic media, articles and reports of various authorities, books in the library, internet websites like Google search; discussed the project with teachers, classmates & friends. Doctrinal methods are adopted because it is not possible to study purely by experimental method.

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From the collected material and information, researcher proposes to critically analyze the topic of the study and try to reach the core aspect of study. A comprehensive bibliography will be  provided at the end of the final project.

Hypothesis 

The vice president does not wield much day-to-day political power, but is still considered an important member of the cabinet.

Research Questions 

What was the basic purpose of our constitution framers to create a position of a vice-president.?

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What are the various powers and duties of a vice-president in India?

Scope and Limitation The scope of the project is limited to the Indian Constitution. The nature of my study would be Doctrinal i.e. the researcher has referred different sources such as net, newspaper, Books and articles. The scope of my study covers the duties and powers of a Vice-President of India in context to generalize the objective of the project report. The researcher will try its best to answer the research problem by confining itself to the aforesaid defined scope.

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Chapter-4 Observations & Findings

Powers and Duties of the Vice-President of India

 No functions are attached to the office of the Vice-President as such. The normal function of the Vice-President is to act as the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (Art 64) or  else as an acting President of India, if there occurs any vacancy in the office of the President by reason of his death, resignation removal or otherwise the Vice-President can act as President until a new President is elected & sentence upon his office.

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The Vice-President discharges the function of the President during the latter's temporary absence owing to hipness & some other cause. When the Vice-President acts as or  discharges the functions of the President, he gets the emoluments of the President at such 13

times he ceases to perform the duties of the chairman of the Rajya Sabha (Art 65) . The office of the Vice-President is not any great importance. No doubt his office is next to the office of the President of India but he does not exercise any powers. Beside these, he represents the Council of States on ceremonial occasions, protects the rights and  privileges of the members of the Council of States, and visits foreign countries on goodwill missions 14.

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P.M. Bakshi, Constitutional Law of India

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The Constitution of India, Bare Act With Short Notes, 2012, Universal Law Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi,

India 14

J.N.Pandey, The Constitutional Law of India, 45

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Ed., Central Law Agency

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Acting President of India

The Constitution provides that should "there occur a vacancy in the office of the President by reason of his death, resignation, removal or otherwise, the Vice President shall act as President until a new President is elected and enters upon his office" (Article 65(1)). After 1957, as per revised protocol the second highest post in India is of vice  president which previously belonged to the  prime minister of India. If the vacancy is going to be caused by a regular expiration of the term of the President, elections have to 15

 be completed before the term expires . Even if there is a brief interregnum owing to a delay of the elections, the President shall continue to hold office until his successor enters upon the office (Article 56(1)c). Thus the Vice President would ascend to the Presidency only under extraordinary circumstances such as: 1. Death of the President 2. Resignation of the President 3. Removal of the President by impeachment 4. Invalidation of the election of the President by the Supreme Court Under such extraordinary circumstances, a Presidential election must be held no later  than six months from the date of occurrence of the vacancy. In the interim, the Vice 16

President is empowered by the Constitution to act as President . Apart from a permanent vacancy, there may also arise a temporary vacancy due to the President's inability to perform the duties of the office. The Constitution provides that the Vice President shall discharge the functions of the President during temporary absence of 

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J.N.Pandey, The Constitutional Law of India, 45

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http://vicepresidentofindia.nic.in/RTI_manual.pdf 

Ed., Central Law Agency

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the President, illness, of any other cause by which the President is unable to discharge his functions. The inaugural Vice President of India Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was himself the first Vice President to discharge the functions of the President, when the then President Dr. Rajendra Prasad was away from the country for fifteen days on a tour to the Soviet Union in 1960. V. V. Giri was the first Vice President to serve for an extended period as Acting President of India (from May 3, 1969 to July 19, 1969) when the then President Dr. Zakir Hussain died while in office. When V. V. Giri resigned to contest for Presidential elections, the Chief Justice of India Mohammad Hidayatullah briefly acted as the President 17. 

Chairman of the Rajya Sabha

The Vice President also serves as the ex-officio chairman of  Rajya Sabha (Council of  States).[3] Thus, apart from holding the executive position of successor to the President, the Vice President also serves the legislative role of Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. This unique duality is not shared by any other Commonwealth Country, and was borrowed from the Constitution of the United States. Constitutionally, the Chairman is empowered to preside over the meetings of the Rajya Sabha18. He is empowered to adjourn the House or to suspend its sitting in the event of  absence of quorum. Members who wish to resign from the House shall submit their  resignations to the Chairman, who may use his discretion to reject the resignation if he is satisfied that such resignation is not voluntary or genuine.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_India

18

M.P.Jain, Indian Constitutional Law, 5 Ed, Wadhwa, Nagpur

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Under the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution 19, the Chairman determines the question as to disqualification of a member of the Rajya Sabha on ground of defection. The Chairman also makes rules for giving effect to the provisions of that Schedule. He is empowered to direct that any wilful contravention of the said rules should be dealt with in the same manner as a breach of privilege of the House. The Chairman may permit a member who is unable to express himself in Hindi or in English, to address the House in his mother tongue. The Rules of Procedure of the Rajya Sabha confer several other powers to the Chairman such as maintaining order in the House, raising questions, calling attention, authenticating motions, resolutions, Bills, amendments to Bills, petitions, papers etc. The Chairman cannot exercise a vote, except when there an equality of votes. The Chairman can exercise a tie-breaking vote if the need arises 20. In his task as Chairman, he is assisted by the Deputy Chairman who is a member of the Rajya Sabha and elected by it. The Deputy Chairman presides over the Rajya Sabha in the absence of the Chairman and performs the duties of the office of the Chairman if the Vice President is acting as President or if the office of the Vice President is vacant.

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The Chairman nominates members of the Rajya Sabha on various bodies such as Courts of Banaras Hindu University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, North-Eastern Hill University, Pondicherry University, University of Hyderabad, Anjuman (Court) of Jamia Millia Islamia University, Haj Committee, Press Council of India, Samsad (Court) of  Visva Bharati, National Council for Teachers Education, etc. set up under the relevant statutes.

19

K C Joshi, “Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and the Chairman of Council of States”, Vol 78, Oct 1991

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http://vicepresidentofindia.nic.in/const.asp

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V.D. Sebastian, Indian Federalism the Legislative Conflicts, 1985

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The Chairman also nominates members of the Rajya Sabha on other bodies like General Assembly of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, General Body of the Central Social Welfare Board, General Council of the School of Planning and Architecture, Hindi 22

Shiksha Samiti, Institute of Constitutional and Parliamentary Studies, etc . In the United States of America, the Vice-President acts as the President till the expiry of  23

the term of the President whom he succeeds in case the President dies in office . In India, this practice is not in vogue. When President Zakir Hussain died in office in 1969, V.V. Giri, the then Vice-President, acted as the President, and within 6 months he himself was elected as the President. While acting as the President, the Vice-President shall not perform his duty as the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. While acting as the President, the Vice-President has the same powers, privileges and immunities as the President. The post of Vice-President is not superfluous. His position is one of honour, dignity, as 24

well as of influence . He presides over the meetings of the Rajya Sabha. He is also likely to act as the President in some situations. As such he is the 'No.2 Citizen' of the country. But he has potential to be promoted to the position of No.1 Citizen of India. It would be right to describe the Vice-President as a 'President-in-waiting' or a 'Shadow President.

22

B.Shiva Rao, The Framing of Indian’s Constitution -Select Documents, 1967

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K.C. Wheare, Modern Constitutions, 3

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Granville Austin, Working a Democratic Constitution- A history of Indian Experience, (1999)

rd

Ed.

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Chapter-4 Conclusion The Vice-President of India is the second highest constitutional office in the country. He serves for a five-year term, but can continue to be in office, irrespective of the expiry of  the term, until the successor assumes office. The Constitution is silent on who performs the duties of the Vice-President, when a vacancy occurs in the office of the Vice-President of India, before the expiry of his term, or when the Vice-President acts as the President of India. The only provision in the Constitution is with regard to the Vice-President's function as the Chairperson of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha), which is performed, during the period of such vacancy,  by the Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, or any other member of the Rajya Sabha authorised by the President of India. There is no doubt that the office of the Vice-President of India is next to the office of the President of India. His position is one of honour, dignity, as well as of influence. But the Vice-President of India does not exercise any important and real powers. Therefore, the office of the Vice-President of India is not of any great importance. Inspite of the above given facts we will have to admit this that much depends upon the  personality of the person who becomes the Vice-President. A person with a charismatic  personality can become a very useful part of administration. Hence, I would like to conclude my research with the stating that the Vice-president of  India is not given much importance by our Constitution of India. Every candidate so far  elected for the position, were people capable of much more important roles. But simultaneously, he is still considered as an important member of the cabinet.

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Chapter-5 Bibliography

Books referred th

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The Constitutional Law of India, Dr.J.N. Pandey, 48

edition, Central law Agency

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Constitution of India, V.N. Shukla, 11 th edition, Eastern Book Company

Websites referred 

www.advocatekhoj.com

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www.legalgreek.com

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www.scribd.com

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http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_India/Part_V

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http://www.publishyourarticles.net/knowledge-hub/political-science/what-are-the powers-of-the-vice-president-of-india.html

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http://sussex.de.schoolwebpages.com/education/club/clubinfo.php?sectiondetailid =7386&

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http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/welcome.html

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http://www.preservearticles.com/

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