Features of Indian Constitution
The salient features of Indian Constitution are as follows
1. Lengthiest constitution
The Constitution of India is the longest among all written constitutions in the world. It contains 395 articles and 12 schedules. In addition, around 90 articles have been added and more than 100 amendments have taken place since 1951.
2. Drawn from Different Sources
The basis of the basic structure such as Federal scheme, Judiciary, Governors, Emergency powers, Public Service Commissions, Administrative details, etc. are from the Government of India Act,1935.
Similarly, the fundamental rights are from the American constitution, Directive Principles from the Irish Constitution and the Cabinet form of government is from the British Constitution.
Also, it adopts various provisions from the Constitutions of Canada, Australia, Germany, USSR, and France.
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar proudly said that the Constitution of India has been prepared 'after scrutinizing all the known constitutions of the world.
3. Federal System and Unitary Features
The federal features of governance are a dual system of government, that means Center and States government, the division of powers between the executive, judiciary and legislature which are the three organs of the state, the supremacy of the Constitution, independent Judiciary and bicameralism. These features exhibit the federal system.
3.1. Emergency Provisions
The framers of the Constitution had also anticipated that sometimes emergency may arise in the country when the government cannot be run as in normal times. To deal with such situations, emergency provisions are elaborated upon in the Constitution.
There may be three types of emergency as follows:
a. Emergency caused by war, external aggression or armed rebellion (Article 352).
b. Emergency arising from failure of constitutional machinery in the States (Articles 356 and 365).
c. Financial emergency (Article 360).
The rationale behind including these provisions is to protect the sovereignty, unity, integrity and security of the country, democratic political system and the Constitution.
During an emergency, the central government becomes powerful and the states come under the complete control of the Centre.
Such change of political system from federal (during normal times) to unitary (during emergency) is a unique feature of the Indian Constitution.
4. Parliamentary form of Government
The Indian Constitution chose the Parliamentary form of government. In a Parliamentary form of government executive is part of the legislature and there is a collective responsibility of the council of ministers to the legislature.
The party in majority rules and the PM is the leader of the country and the CM is the leader in the state.
5. Parliamentary sovereignty and Judicial supremacy
The Indian Constitution has a proper balance between Parliamentary sovereignty and Judicial Supremacy. The Article 13, 32 and 136 provides power to the Supreme Court for judicial review.
Thus, it can cancel any Parliamentary law as unconstitutional. On the other hand, the Parliament has the authority to make laws and also amend the major portion of the Constitution vide Article 368.
6. Independent and integrated Judicial system
As per the Indian constitution, India has a single unified judicial system. The Supreme Court is at the top, the High Courts at the state level and district and other subordinate courts are below and are subject to the supervision of the High Courts.
Also, all the levels of courts have a duty of enforcing central as well as state laws.
7. Directive principles
The Directive Principles of State Policies in Part IV of the Constitution intends to make India a welfare state. The Directive Principles are not enforceable by the courts for their violation.
However, it is a moral obligation of the state to apply these principles in making laws for their states.
8. Rigid and flexible
The Indian Constitution is a combination or a blend of rigidity and flexibility.
As per Article 368, some provisions can be amended by a special majority of the Parliament, for example 2/3rd majority of the members of each House present and voting and majority which is more than 50 percent of the total membership of each House.
Example – American Constitution. A flexible constitution is one that can be amended like ordinary laws.