Indian polity & Governance Test 9

Solution: b)

A State Human Rights Commission can inquire into violation of human rights only in respect of subjects mentioned in the State List (List-II) and the Concurrent List (List-III) of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.

Solution: c)

• State Human Rights Commission is a Non-constitutional body.
• If any such case is already being inquired into by the National Human Rights Commission or any other Statutory Commission, then the State Human Rights Commission does not inquire into that case.
• The commission can review the constitutional and other legal safeguards for the protection of human rights.
• Although the chairperson and members of a State Human Rights Commission are appointed by the governor, they can be removed only by the President (and not by the governor).

Solution: a)

• The Constitution of India provides for a federal system of government in the country.
• The term ‘federation’ has nowhere been used in the Constitution. Instead, Article 1 of the Constitution describes India as a ‘Union of States’.
• The Indian federal system is based on the ‘Canadian model’ and not on the ‘American model’.

Solution: b)

• Mandamus is a command issued by the court to a public official asking him to perform his official duties that he has failed or refused to perform. It can also be issued against any public body, a corporation, an inferior court, a tribunal or government for the same purpose.
• The writ of mandamus cannot be issued

(a) against a private individual or body;

(b) to enforce departmental instruction that does not possess statutory force;

(c) when the duty is discretionary and not mandatory;

(d) to enforce a contractual obligation;

(e) against the president of India or the state governors; and

(f) against the chief justice of a high court acting in judicial capacity.

Solution: c)

• As provided by the Constitution, the Speaker of the last Lok Sabha vacates his office immediately before the first meeting of the newly-elected Lok Sabha. Therefore, the President appoints a member of the Lok Sabha as the Speaker Pro Tem. Usually, the senior most member is selected for this. (Statement 1)
• The President himself administers oath to the Speaker Pro Tem. (Statement 2)
• The Speaker Pro Tem has all the powers of the Speaker. (Statement 3)

Solution: a)

The Constitution lays down the following qualifications for a person to be chosen a member of the state legislature.

(a) He must be a citizen of India. (Statement 1)

(b) He must make and subscribe to an oath or affirmation before the person authorised by the Election Commission for this purpose. (Statement 3) In his oath or affirmation, he swears

(i) To bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India

(ii) To uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India

(c) He must be not less than 30 years of age in the case of the legislative council and not less than 25 years of age in the case of the legislative assembly. (Statement 2)

(d) He must posses other qualifications prescribed by Parliament.

Accordingly, the Parliament has laid down the following additional qualifications in the Representation of People Act (1951):

(a) A person to be elected to the legislative council must be an elector for an assembly constituency in the concerned state and to be qualified for the governor’s nomination, he must be a resident in the concerned state.

(b) A person to be elected to the legislative assembly must be an elector for an assembly constituency in the concerned state. (Statement 4)

(c) He must be a member of a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe if he wants to contest a seat reserved for them. However, a member of scheduled castes or scheduled tribes can also contest a seat not reserved for them.

Solution: d)

Statement 1 – Article 25 covers not only religious beliefs (doctrines) but also religious practices (rituals).

Statement 2 – these rights are available to all persons—citizens as well as non-citizens.

Statement 3 – Article 25 guarantees rights of individuals, while Article 26 guarantees rights of religious denominations or their sections. In other words, Article 26 protects collective freedom of religion.

Statement 4 – Right to propagate: Transmission and dissemination of one’s religious beliefs to others or exposition of the tenets of one’s religion. But, it does not include a right to convert another person to one’s own religion. Forcible conversions impinge on the ‘freedom of conscience’ guaranteed to all the persons alike.

Solution: b)

In 1986, Rajiv Gandhi government appointed a committee to prepare a concept paper on ‘Revitalisation of Panchayati Raj Institutions for Democracy and Development’ under the chairmanship of L M Singhvi.

Solution: c)

Statement 1: Acts like Maternity Benefit Act or its recent amendment have been enacted in the spirit of the DPSP (Article 42).

Statement 2: These are socialist principles which draw their moorings from the history of economic

thought in India. India upholds an economic system based on the principles of equity, fairness and

justice, and therefore, such rights (provisions) are crucial to ensure labour welfare.

Solution: c)

• The constitution establishes three types of funds – Consolidated Fund of India; Public Account; Contingency Fund.
• Prior authorization is required for withdrawing from Consolidated Fund of India. For Contingency fund of India, withdrawal can be authorized by the Parliament afterwards too. For Public Account, no such authorization is needed.
• Assessing the revenues from different central taxes is the primary function of the Department of Revenue and the expenditure estimates for the current and the next year for various expenditure heads are assessed by the Department of Expenditure. The Department of Expenditure also assesses the resources of the public sector undertakings (PSUs).
• The Budget division is a part of the Department of Economic Affairs.

Solution: b)

• Statement 1 – The Supreme Court has ruled that Article 32 is a basic feature of the Constitution. Hence, it cannot be abridged or taken away even by way of an amendment to the Constitution.
• Statement 2 – Only the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution can be enforced under Article 32 and not any other right like non-fundamental constitutional rights, statutory rights, customary rights and so on.
• Statement 3 – In case of the enforcement of Fundamental Rights, the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is original but not exclusive. It is concurrent with the jurisdiction of the high court under Article 226.
• Statement 4 – Article 32 cannot be invoked simply to determine the constitutionality of an executive order or a legislation unless it directly infringes any of the fundamental rights.

Solution: c)

• CJI is described as ‘Master of the Roster’. This refers to the privilege of the Chief Justice to constitute Benches to hear cases.
• This privilege was emphasised in November 2017, when a Constitution Bench, led by the then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, declared that “the Chief Justice is the master of the roster and he alone has the prerogative to constitute the Benches of the Court and allocate cases to the Benches so constituted.”
• It further said that “no Judge can take up the matter on this own, unless allocated by the Chief Justice of India, as he is the master of the roster.”

Solution: d)

Statement 1 – Article 25 covers not only religious beliefs (doctrines) but also religious practices (rituals).

Statement 2 – these rights are available to all persons—citizens as well as non-citizens.

Statement 3 – Article 25 guarantees rights of individuals, while Article 26 guarantees rights of religious denominations or their sections. In other words, Article 26 protects collective freedom of religion.

Statement 4 – Right to propagate: Transmission and dissemination of one’s religious beliefs to others or exposition of the tenets of one’s religion. But, it does not include a right to convert another person to one’s own religion. Forcible conversions impinge on the ‘freedom of conscience’ guaranteed to all the persons alike.

Solution: b)

When the Lok Sabha is dissolved, all business including bills, motions, resolutions, notices, petitions and so on pending before it or its committees lapse. They (to be pursued further) must be reintroduced in the newly constituted Lok Sabha.

However, some pending bills and all pending assurances that are to be examined by the Committee on Government Assurances do not lapse on the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.

The position with respect to lapsing of bills is as follows:

1. A bill pending in the Lok Sabha lapses (whether originating in the Lok Sabha or transmitted to it by the Rajya Sabha).
2. A bill passed by the Lok Sabha but pending in the Rajya Sabha lapses.
3. A bill not passed by the two Houses due to disagreement and if the president has notified the holding of a joint sitting before the dissolution of Lok Sabha, does not lapse.
4. A bill pending in the Rajya Sabha but not passed by the Lok Sabha does not lapse. (Statement 2)
5. A bill passed by both Houses but pending assent of the president does not lapse.
6. A bill passed by both Houses but returned by the president for reconsideration of Houses does not lapse.

Solution: c)

Statement 1 – First Amendment Act, 1951

Statement 2 – Sixteenth Amendment Act, 1963

Statement 3 – Forty-second Amendment Act, 1976

Statement 4 – Forty-Fourth Amendment Act, 1978

Solution: c)

• Statement 1 – The office of ‘whip’, is mentioned neither in the Constitution of India nor in the Rules of the House nor in a Parliamentary Statute. It is based on the conventions of the parliamentary government.
• Statement 2 – Every political party, whether ruling or Opposition has its own whip in the Parliament. He is appointed by the political party to serve as an assistant floor leader.
• Statement 3 – He regulates and monitors the behaviour of the party members in the Parliament. The members are supposed to follow the directives given by the whip. Otherwise, disciplinary action can be taken.

Solution: b)

• Statement 1 – The president can summon both the Houses to meet in a joint sitting. The Speaker of Lok Sabha presides over a joint sitting of the two Houses and the Deputy Speaker, in his absence. If the Deputy Speaker is also absent from a joint sitting, the Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha presides. If he is also absent, such other person as may be determined by the members present at the joint sitting, presides over the meeting.
• Statement 2 – The provision of joint sitting is applicable to ordinary bills or financial bills only and not to money bills or Constitutional amendment bills.

Solution: c)

• Statement 1 and Statement 2 are not possible because these are motions that censure the government, and Rajya Sabha does not enjoy this power.
• A no-confidence motion is a parliamentary motion which is moved in the Lok Sabha against the entire council of ministers, stating that they are no longer deemed fit to hold positions of responsibility due to their inadequacy in some respect or their failure to carry out their obligations. No prior reason needs to be stated for its adoption in the Lok Sabha.

Solution: b)

The directive principles are meant for promoting the ideal of social and economic democracy. They seek to establish a ‘welfare state’ in India.

Solution: d)

• The maximum strength of the council is fixed at one-third of the total strength of the assembly and the minimum strength is fixed at 40 (with some exceptions).
• The Chairman of the Legislative Council is elected by the council itself from amongst its members.