COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
The Union Council of Ministers (COM) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in on June 9, 2024.
The present COM consists of:
- The Prime Minister,
- 30 Cabinet Ministers,
- 5 Ministers of state (MoS) with independent charge and
- 36 MoS.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS
India is a parliamentary democracy with the President as its nominal head. Article 74 of the constitution provides that there shall be a COM headed by the Prime Minister (PM) to aid and advise the President.
The real executive powers lie with the COM. A Minister should be a member of Either the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha and if not, should become one within six Months of his/her appointment.
THE HIERARCHY
The Com consists of a Cabinet minister, MoS with independent charge, MoS and a Deputy Minister.
DOES THE CONSTITUTION CLASSIFY RANKS?
The Constitution does not classify the members of the COM into different ranks. All this has been done informally, following the British practice.
Cabinet Ministers are higher in rank and handle large portfolios while MoS assist the Cabinet Ministers and work under them. MoS with independent charge directly reports to the Prime Minister for their respective ministries.
THE COMS OF THE PAST
- The first COM at the time of independence had only 15 Ministers headed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
- After the first general elections in 1952, Nehru inducted around 30 Ministers into his COM.
- Interestingly, it is the United Front governments led by Deve Gowda ( June 1996) and k. Gujral (April 1997) that were sworn in with just 21 and 34 Ministers respectively.
- In 1999, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee became Prime Minister, his COMc had 74 Ministers.
- During UPA-1 the Manmohan Singh-led government touched the maximum strength of 79 ministers. The no. Was same in UPA-2.
- In May 2014, Prime Minister Modi had 46 ministers in COM.
- In May 2019, 57 ministers were sworn in.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL LIMIT
The National Commission to review the working of the Constitution under the Chairmanship of Justice Venkatachaliah set up in February 2000, had suggested a ceiling of 10% of the total strength of Lok Sabha/Legislative Assembly for the number of Ministers at the Centre/State level.
THE UPPER LIMIT:
Finally, through the 91st Constitutional Amendment in 2003, the total number of Ministers including PM/CM in the COM was limited to 15% of the total strength of the Lok Sabha/State Legislative Assembly.
THE LOWER LIMIT:
There is no minimum requirement at the Central level whereas even the smaller States should have a minimum of 12 Ministers.
For Union Territories of NCT of Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir ( J&K), the maximum limit is 10% of the total strength of its assembly.
HAS THIS LIMIT BEEN BREACHED ANYHOW?
Yes. There has been a practice of appointing Parliamentary Secretaries. (PS)
The PS office is not mentioned in the Constitution & is a British practice.
WHEN WAS THIS POST CREATED IN INDIA?
In India, the post of PS was first created in 1951. They have not been a regular Feature in the Central governments thereafter and the last PS at the Centre was appointed in 1990.
However, various States have continued with their appointment to circumvent the Limit on COM placed by the 91st Amendment. But the High Courts have been vigilant on this matter.
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