The post of President is more powerful than you think

NEW DELHI: The President of India is often portrayed as a titular head merely holding a ceremonial post that ‘rubber stamps’ the decisions made by the government.
This is in part due to the fact that though all the executive functions of the Union are carried on in the name of the President, Article 74 of the Constitution clearly states that the President must act on the binding advice of his Council of Ministers, headed by the Prime Minister.
But there have been incidents in the past where the president has made some important interventions and changes.


In 1979, Prime Minister Charan Singh, did not enjoy a parliamentary majority. He responded to this by simply not advising President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy to summon parliament. Singh proposed seven ordinances during his 24-day tenure. Reddy, however, did not promulgate a single one.
Since then, presidents have been more diligent in directing incoming Prime Ministers to convene Parliament and prove their majority within reasonable deadlines (2 to 3 weeks).
In the interim period, the Prime Ministers are generally restrained from making policy decisions.
Presidents have also used their discretion and directed Prime Ministerial aspirants to establish their credentials before being invited to form the government.


The Constitution does not provide any time limit within which the President must declare assent or refusal to a Bill. A president can hold on to a Bill indefinitely, this is called a "pocket veto".
The veto was used in 1986 by President Zail Singh over the Postal Bill.
The president did not give assent to the Bill, arguing that its scope was too sweeping and would give the government arbitrary powers to intercept postal communications indiscriminately.

* Rashtrapati Bhavan Communiqués In the late 1990s, President KR Narayanan introduced a modicum of transparency and openness in the functioning of the President. This was by means of Rashtrapati Bhavan Communiqués explaining, to the nation, the thinking that led to various decisions he took while exercising his discretionary powers.
* Appointment of PM: President Narayanan also set a new precedent concerning the appointment of a PM – if no party or pre-election coalition had a majority, then a person would be appointed PM only if he was able to convince the president (through letters of support from allied parties) of his ability to secure the confidence of the house. In doing so, he diverged from the actions of his predecessors.

* Imposition of President's rule: President Narayanan returned for reconsideration of the advice from the Union cabinet to impose President's rule in a state, on two instances: one from the I.K. Gujral government (1997) seeking to dismiss the Kalyan Singh government in Uttar Pradesh, and the other from the Vajpayee government (1998) seeking to dismiss the Rabri Devi government in Bihar. In both instances, the Cabinet decided not to move ahead in the matter. However, President Rule was eventually imposed in Bihar in February 1999.
* Kargil conflict: During the military conflict with Pakistan in 1999, a caretaker government was in place in India as the Vajpayee government had lost a no-confidence vote in Lok Sabha earlier that year and the opposition failed to form the next government. This caused a problem with democratic accountability. Narayanan suggested to Vajpayee that the Rajya Sabha be convened to discuss the conflict though there was no precedent of convening the Rajya Sabha in isolation during an interregnum.


The Constitution gives the President the power to return a Bill unsigned but it circumscribes the power to send it back only once for reconsideration.
If Parliament sends back the Bill with or without changes, the president is obliged to sign it.
In 2006, President APJ Abdul Kalam sent back a Bill regarding the exclusion of certain offices from the scope of 'offices of profit', the holding of which would disqualify a person from being a Member of Parliament. The combined opposition, the NDA, hailed the move.
The UPA sent the Bill back to the president without any changes.
Nearly two weeks later, Kalam gave his assent to the Office of Profit Bill -- a day after Parliament approved setting up of a Joint Committee to define what constitutes such an office.

Arunachal Pradesh Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa, who was appointed by the Centre, was sacked by President Pranab Mukherjee after the Supreme Court struck down his unconstitutional acts.