The President is the head of the Indian State. He is the first citizen of India and acts as a symbol of unity, integrity and solidarity of the nation. He is an integral part of the Parliament though he is not a member of either House. As an integral part of Parliament, the President has been assigned certain powers and
functions such as:
- Executive powers
- All executive actions of the Government of India are formally taken in his name.
- He appoints, the Prime Minister and the other ministers, Attorney General of India and Comptroller and Auditor General of India etc.
- Legislative powers
- Summoning or prorogue the Parliament and dissolve the Lok Sabha.
- He nominates 12 members to the Rajya Sabha and two members to the Lok Sabha from the Anglo-Indian Community.
- He decides on questions as to disqualifications of members of the Parliament.
- He can promulgate ordinances.
- Financial powers
- Money bills can be introduced in the Parliament only with his prior recommendation.
- He constitutes a finance commission after every five years to recommend the distribution of revenues between the Centre and the states.
- Judicial powers
- He appoints the Chief Justice and the judges of the Supreme Court and high Courts.
- He can grant pardon, reprieve, respite and remission of punishment, or suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence.
- Military powers
- He is the supreme commander of the defence forces of India. In that capacity, he appoints the chiefs of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force.
- Emergency powers
- The Constitution confers extraordinary powers on the President to deal with the following three types of emergencies.
- National Emergency (Article 352)
- President’s Rule (Article 356 & 365)
- Financial Emergency (Article 360)
It has been seen that the Constitution vests all executive powers in the President. He/She also has extensive emergency powers but in reality he is a nominal executive or a constitutional Head of State with no constitutional discretion but situational discretion.