What Are the Special Features of the Indian Constitution?
Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar who is viewed as the messiah of the Dalits is chiefly remembered as the architect of the Indian constitution. The speeches he delivered on 4th November 1948 and on 25th November 1949 on the floor of the Constituent Assembly of India unravel the salient features of the Indian constitution.
Ambedkar describes the Draft constitution of India as a formidable document because it contains 315 articles and 8 schedules. The constitution of no other country is as bulky as the draft constitution. Ambedkar points out the fundamental difference between the parliamentary form of government and the presidential form of government. In parliamentary system, the President is the head of the union, but he is not the chief head of the execution. He is bound by the advice of his ministers. He has no power so long as the ministers command a majority in the parliament. The President of America, being the chief head of the executive, is not bound by his secretaries.
When it comes to the assessment of the responsibility of the executive also, the presidential system in America is different from the parliamentary system in India. In America, the assessment is periodic i.e. once in two years whereas in India it is both daily as well as periodic. The daily assessment is done by the members of the parliament through means of questions, debate, non-confidential motion, adjournment motion etc., The periodic assessment is done by the electorate which may take place every 5 years or earlier.
The Indian polity is a dual polity. The Indian union resembles the American federation. The Indian union is not a mere league of the states, nor is the states the administrative unit of union government.
Unlike the American Constitution where the dual polity is followed by a dual citizenship, the Indian Constitution in spite of being a dual polity has only asingle citizenship for the whole of India. Besides, as per the Indian Constitution, no state has right to frame its own Constitution as in the case of the American Constitution, which makes provision for each State to have the power to make its own constitution.
The Draft Constitution of Indian can be both Unitary and Federal accounting to the necessity of time and circumstances. Normally, it works as a federal system. But in times of war it functions as though it is Unitary. Under the provision of the draft article 275 ( Article 352- Proclamation of Emergency, the President can proclaim the State Governments as to how they should exercise their executive authority on any specified subjects and can authorize any officers to execute powers according to its will. Such a power of converting itself in to a unitary state is unique to the Indian Constitution.
In order to overcome the weakness of rigidity and legalism inherent in the federal form of government, the Draft Constitution of India follows the Australian plan on a larger scale than has been done in Australia. It implies a long list of subjects for concurrent powers of legislation. Under the draft constitution of India, the exclusive power of legislation is vested with the parliament, which will extend to 91 matters, whereas the Australian Parliament can legislate only on three mattes. Besides, the parliament has the power to legislate on exclusive provincial mattes in normal times. Under article 226, the parliament can legislate when a subject becomes a matter of national concern. The constitution can also be amended by the parliament by double majority (i.e. 2/3 of each house present and voting and by a majority of total membership of each house). As a result the Indian Parliament does not suffer from rigidity and legalism.
As per the Indian Constitution, the authority is divided among the legislative, the executive and the judiciary both for the union and the states, India will have a federation and uniformity in all fundamental matters through:
- A single judiciary.
- Uniformity in fundamental laws, civil or criminal and
- A common all India Civil Service.
The Indian federation, through a dual polity has no dual judiciary at all. The High court and the Supreme court in India form a single integrated judiciary. Great care has been taken to ensure uniformity without impairing the federal system by placing civil and criminal laws in the concurrent list. Though India has dual civil service, there is an all Indian Civil Service recruited on all India basis with common qualifications and uniform scale of pay.