Salient features of the Indian Constitution - Constitutional Law I

Check the judgment before you rely on this. Every case cited here has been checked to exist — the citation resolves and names the right parties. The propositions attributed to each case have not been verified line by line against the judgment. Case names link through to the full judgment: read it before quoting a holding in an examination answer, and never carry a proposition from notes into court on trust.

How to use this topic. Almost every feature listed here is a full topic later in the paper. Treat this as the map. In an essay, do not give ten features a sentence each — give the list, then develop two or three properly.

1. The longest written Constitution in the world

It began with 395 Articles in 22 Parts and 8 Schedules, and has grown by amendment since. The length has reasons: the framers wrote for a vast and diverse country, incorporated much of the administrative detail of the Government of India Act, 1935, provided separately for the States and for scheduled areas, and chose to spell out rights rather than leave them to convention. A written Constitution of this size is also a deliberate choice about certainty — less is left to implication than in the United Kingdom.

2. Sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic

The Preamble's description of the polity. Sovereign means subject to no external authority; socialist and secular were inserted by the Forty-second Amendment in 1976, though the Supreme Court had already treated secularism as inherent; democratic covers not only universal adult franchise but responsible government; and republic means the head of State is elected and holds no hereditary office.

3. Partly rigid and partly flexible

Article 368 provides more than one route for amendment. Some provisions yield to a simple majority of Parliament, most require a special majority of each House, and provisions touching the federal structure require in addition ratification by the legislatures of not less than half the States. The Constitution is therefore neither as rigid as that of the United States nor as flexible as the United Kingdom's.

4. Quasi-federal, with a strong centre

The Constitution has the essentials of a federation: a written Constitution, a division of legislative power through the Seventh Schedule, and an independent judiciary to arbitrate disputes. But it departs from a strict federation in several ways — single citizenship, a single unified judiciary, an all-India services cadre, Governors appointed by the Union, Parliament's power to legislate on State subjects under Articles 249 and 250, residuary powers with the Union, and the emergency provisions, particularly Article 356.

The Supreme Court has nevertheless held federalism to be part of the basic structure. In S.R. Bommai v. Union of India, 1994 INSC 111, (1994) 3 SCC 1, the Court held that federalism and secularism are basic features and that a proclamation under Article 356 is subject to judicial review. Use that case whenever a question suggests India's federalism is merely nominal: the strong centre is real, but it is not unlimited.

5. Parliamentary government

The executive is drawn from the legislature and is collectively responsible to the House of the People. The President is the constitutional head; real executive power lies with the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister. This is the British model, chosen over the American presidential system because the framers preferred responsibility to stability.

6. Justiciable fundamental rights

Part III does not merely declare rights; Article 13 makes inconsistent laws void, and Articles 32 and 226 give a remedy. A right without a remedy would be a moral statement. Dr Ambedkar called Article 32 the very soul of the Constitution.

7. Directive principles of State policy

Part IV sets out the goals of governance. Article 37 declares them not enforceable by any court, yet fundamental in the governance of the country. Their relationship with Part III is one of the central questions of the paper; in Minerva Mills Ltd. v. Union of India, 1980 INSC 142, (1980) 3 SCC 625, the Court held that the balance between fundamental rights and directive principles is itself part of the basic structure.

8. Fundamental duties

Part IV-A, Article 51-A, inserted by the Forty-second Amendment in 1976 on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee. Not directly enforceable, but relevant to interpretation and to the reasonableness of restrictions on rights.

9. Independent judiciary and judicial review

A single integrated judiciary with the Supreme Court at its head, security of tenure, salaries charged on the Consolidated Fund, and the power to declare legislative and executive action unconstitutional. Judicial review is a basic feature; in I.R. Coelho (dead) by LRs v. State of Tamil Nadu, 2007 INSC 28, (2007) 2 SCC 1, the Court held that even laws placed in the Ninth Schedule after 24 April 1973 may be tested against the basic structure.

10. Other features worth naming

Universal adult suffrage — adopted at once in 1950, in a country with low literacy, which was itself a remarkable constitutional choice.
Single citizenship — unlike the United States, no separate State citizenship.
Emergency provisions — Articles 352, 356 and 360, permitting the Constitution to become effectively unitary in a crisis.
Special provisions for weaker sections — reservation, and provisions for scheduled areas and tribes.
Basic structure doctrine — not written into the text but established in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, 1973 INSC 91, (1973) 4 SCC 225, and now the most distinctive feature of Indian constitutional law.

How this is examined

Very frequently, as a straight essay: discuss the salient features of the Indian Constitution. The weak answer lists twelve features in twelve sentences. The strong answer gives the list briefly, then develops the ones that carry doctrine — quasi-federalism with Bommai, the rights and directive principles balance with Minerva Mills, and judicial review with Kesavananda and Coelho — and closes by saying what the features add up to: a written, justiciable, limited government.

As a short note, expect: quasi-federal character, the parliamentary system, or single citizenship.

Now go and read the questions themselves: Constitutional Law I past question papers.