Indian Constitution Chapter 1 PDF

Chapter- 1: Making of Indian Constitution  Historical Background The British came to India in 1600 as traders, in the form of East IndiaCompany, which had the exclusive right of trading in India under a charter granted by Queen Elizabet...

Chapter- 1: Making of Indian Constitution  Historical Background The British came to India in 1600 as traders, in the form of East IndiaCompany, which had the exclusive right of trading in India under a charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I. In 1765, the Company, which till now had purely trading functions obtained the ‘diwani’ (i.e., rights over revenue and civil justice) of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. This started its career as a territorial power. In 1858, in the wake of the ‘sepoy mutiny’, the British Crown assumed direct responsibility for the governance of India. This rule continued until India was granted independence on August 15, 1947. With Independence came the need of a Constitution. As suggested by M N Roy (a pioneer of communist movement in India) in 1934, a Constituent Assembly was formed for this purpose in 1946 and on January 26, 1950, the Constitution came into being. However, various features of the Indian Constitution and polity have their roots in the British rule. There are certain events in the British rule that laid down the legal framework for the organisation and functioning of government and administration in British India. These events have greatly influenced our constitution and polity.  DEMAND FOR A CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY It was in 1934 that the idea of a Constituent Assembly for India was put forward for the first time by M.N.Roy, a pioneer of communist movement in India. In 1935, the Indian National Congress (INC), for the firsttime, officially demanded a Constituent Assembly to frame the Constitution of India. In 1938, Jawaharlal Nehru, on behalf the INC declared that ‘the Constitution of free India must be framed, without outside interference, by a Constituent Assembly elected on the basis of adult franchise’. The demand was finally accepted in principle by the British Government in what is known as the ‘August Offer’ of 1940. In 1942, Sir Stafford Cripps, a member of the cabinet, came to India with a draft proposal of the British Government on the framing of an independent Constitution to be adopted after the World War II. The Cripps Proposals were rejected by the Muslim League which wanted India to be divided into two autonomous states with two separate Constituent Assemblies. Finally, a Cabinet Mission was sent to India. While it rejected the idea of two Constituent Assemblies, it put forth a scheme for the Constituent Assembly which more or less satisfied the Muslim League. A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution.  COMPOSITION OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY The Constituent Assembly was constituted in November 1946 under the scheme formulated by the Cabinet Mission Plan. The features of the scheme were: 1. The total strength of the Constituent Assembly was to be 389. Of these, 296 seats were to be allotted to British India and 93 seats to the Princely States. Out of 296 seats allotted to the British India, 292 members were to be drawn from the eleven governors’ provinces and four from the four chief commissioners’ provinces, one from each. 2. Each province and princely state (or group of states in case of small states) were to be allotted seats in proportion to their respective population. Roughly, one seat was to be allotted for every million population. 3. Seats allocated to each British province were to be divided among the three principal communities—Muslims, Sikhs and general (all except Muslims and Sikhs), in proportion to their population. 4. The representatives of each community were to be elected by members of that community in the provincial legislative assembly and voting was to be by the method of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote. 5. The representatives of princely states were to be nominated by the heads of the princely states. Constituent Assembly was to be a partly elected andpartly nominated body. Moreover, the members were to be indirectly elected by the members of the provincial assemblies, who themselves were elected on a limited franchise. The elections to the Constituent Assembly (for 296 seats allotted to the British Indian Provinces) were held in July–August 1946. The Indian National Congress won 208 seats, the Muslim League 73 seats, and the small groups and independents got the remaining 15 seats. However, the 93 seats allotted to the princely states were not filled as they decided to stay away from the Constituent Assembly. Although the Constituent Assembly was not directly elected by the people of India on the basis of adult franchise, the Assembly comprised representatives of all sections of Indian Society—Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, Anglo–Indians, Indian Christians, SCs, STs including women of all these sections. The Assembly included all important personalities of India at that time, with the exception of Mahatma Gandhi.  WORKING OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY The Constituent Assembly held its first meeting on December 9, 1946. The Muslim League boycotted the meeting and insisted on a separate state of Pakistan. The meeting was thus attended by only 211 members. Dr Sachchidanand Sinha, the oldest member, was elected as the temporary President of the Assembly, following the French practice. Later, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the President of the Assembly. Similarly, both H.C. Mukherjee and V.T. Krishnamachari were elected as the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly. In other words, the Assembly had two Vice-Presidents.  Objectives Resolution On December 13, 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru moved the historic ‘Objectives Resolution’ in the Assembly. It laid down the fundamentals and philosophyof the constitutional structure. It read: 1. “This Constituent Assembly declares its firm and solemn resolve to proclaim India as an Independent Sovereign Republic and to draw up for her future governance a Constitution: 2. Wherein the territories that now comprise British India, the territories that now form the Indian States, and such other parts of India as are outside India and the States as well as other territories as are willing to be constituted into the independent sovereign India, shall be a Union of them all; and 3. wherein the said territories, whether with their present boundaries or with such others as may be determined by the Constituent Assembly and thereafter according to the law of the Constitution, shall possess and retain the status of autonomous units together with residuary powers and exercise all powers and functions of Government and administration save and except such powers and functions as are vested in or assigned to the Union or as are inherent or implied in the Union or resulting therefrom; and 4. wherein all power and authority of the Sovereign Independent India, its constituent parts and organs of Government are derived from the people; and 5. wherein shall be guaranteed and secured to all the people of India justice, social, economic and political; equality of status of opportunity, and before the law; freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship, vocation, association and action, subject to law and public morality; and 6. wherein adequate safeguards shall be provided for minorities, backward and tribal areas, and depressed and other backward classes; and 7. whereby shall be maintained the integrity of the territory of the Republic and its sovereign rights on land, sea and air according to justice and the law of civilized nations; and 8. This ancient land attains its rightful and honoured place in the world and makes its full and willing contribution to the promotion of world peace and the welfare of mankind.” This Resolution was unanimously adopted by the Assembly on January 22, 1947. It influenced the eventual shaping of the constitution through all its subsequent stages. Its modified version forms the Preamble of the present Constitution.  COMMITTEES OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY The Constituent Assembly appointed a number of committees to deal with different tasks of constitution-making. Out of these, eight were major committees and the others were minor committees. The names of these committees and their chairmen are given below: Major Committees: 1. Union Powers Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru 2. Union Constitution Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru 3. Provincial Constitution Committee – Sardar Patel 4. Drafting Committee – Dr. B.R. Ambedkar 5. Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas – Sardar Patel. This committee had the following five sub-committees: (a) Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee – J.B. Kripalani (b) Minorities Sub-Committee – H.C. Mukherjee (c) North-East Frontier Tribal Areas and Assam Excluded & Partially Excluded Areas Sub-Committee – Gopinath Bardoloi (d) Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (Other than those in Assam) (e) Sub-Committee – A.V. Thakkar 6. Rules of Procedure Committee – Dr. Rajendra Prasad 7. States Committee (Committee for Negotiating with States) – JawaharlalNehru 8. Steering Committee – Dr. Rajendra Prasad  COMMITTEES OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY Minor Committees: 1. Finance and Staff Committee – Dr. Rajendra Prasad 2. Credentials Committee – Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar 3. House Committee – B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya 4. Order of Business Committee – Dr. K.M. Munshi 5. Ad-hoc Committee on the National Flag – Dr. Rajendra Prasad 6. Committee on the Functions of the Constituent Assembly – G.V.Mavalankar 7. Ad-hoc Committee on the Supreme Court – S. Varadachari (Not anAssembly Member) 8. Committee on Chief Commissioners’ Provinces – B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya 9. Expert Committee on the Financial Provisions of the Union Constitution –Nalini Ranjan Sarkar (Not an Assembly Member) 10. Linguistic Provinces Commission – S.K. Dar (Not an Assembly Member) 11. Special Committee to Examine the Draft Constitution – Jawaharlal Nehru 12. Press Gallery Committee – Usha Nath Sen 13. Ad-hoc Committee on Citizenship – S. Varadachari  CRITICISM OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY The critics have criticised the Constituent Assembly on various grounds. These are as follows: 1. Not a Representative Body: The critics have argued that the Constituent Assembly was not a representative body as its members were not directly elected by the people of India on the basis of universal adult franchise. 2. Not a Sovereign Body: The critics maintained that the Constituent Assembly was not a sovereign body as it was created by the proposals of the British Government. Further, they said that the Assembly held its sessions with the permission of the British Government. 3. Time Consuming: According to the critics, the Constituent Assembly tookunduly long time to make the Constitution. They stated that the framers ofthe American Constitution took only four months to complete their work. In this context, Naziruddin Ahmed, a member of the Constituent Assembly, coined a new name for the Drafting Committee to show his contempt for it. He called it a “Drifting Committee”. 4. Dominated by Congress: The critics charged that the Constituent Assembly was dominated by the Congress party. Granville Austin, aBritish Constitutional expert, remarked: ‘The Constituent Assembly was aone-party body in an essentially one-party country. The Assembly was the Congress and the Congress was India’. 5. Lawyer–Politician Domination: It is also maintained by the critics that theConstituent Assembly was dominated by lawyers and politicians. They pointed out that other sections of the society were not sufficiently represented. This, to them, is the main reason for the bulkiness andcomplicated language of the Constitution. 6. Dominated by Hindus: According to some critics, the Constituent Assembly was a Hindu dominated body. Lord Viscount Simon called it ‘abody of Hindus’. Similarly, Winston Churchill commented that the Constituent Assembly represented ‘only one major community in India’  IMPORTANT FACTS 1. Elephant was adopted as the symbol (seal) of the Constituent Assembly. 2. Sir B.N. Rau was appointed as the constitutional advisor (Legal advisor)to the Constituent Assembly. 3. H.V.R. Iyengar was the Secretary to the Constituent Assembly. 4. S.N. Mukerjee was the chief draftsman of the constitution in the Constituent Assembly. 5. Prem Behari Narain Raizada was the calligrapher of the Indian Constitution. The original constitution was handwritten by him in a flowing italic style. 6. The original version was beautified and decorated by artists from Shantiniketan including Nand Lal Bose and Beohar Rammanohar Sinha. 7. Beohar Rammanohar Sinha illuminated, beautified and ornamented the original Preamble calligraphed by Prem Behari Narain Raizada. 8. The calligraphy of the Hindi version of the original constitution was done by Vasant Krishan Vaidya and elegantly decorated and illuminated by Nand Lal Bose.  PREAMBLE OF THE CONSTITUTION The American Constitution was the first to begin with a Preamble. Many countries, including India, followed this practice. The term ‘preamble’ refers to the introduction or preface to the Constitution. It contains the summary or essence of the Constitution. N A Palkhivala, an eminent jurist and constitutional expert, called the Preamble as the ‘identity card of the Constitution.’ The Preamble to the Indian Constitution is based on the ‘Objectives Resolution’, drafted and moved by Pandit Nehru, and adopted by the Constituent Assembly. It has been amended by the 42nd ConstitutionalAmendment Act (1976), which added three new words— socialist, secularand integrity. The Preamble in its present form reads: “We, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constituteIndia into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens: JUSTICE, Social, Economic and Political; LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all; FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation; IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION”.  INGREDIENTS OF THE PREAMBLE The Preamble reveals four ingredients or components: 1. Source of authority of the Constitution: The Preamble states that the Constitution derives its authority from the people of India. 2. Nature of Indian State: It declares India to be of a sovereign, socialist,secular democratic and republican polity. 3. Objectives of the Constitution: It specifies justice, liberty, equality and fraternity as the objectives. 4. Date of adoption of the Constitution: It stipulates November 26, 1949 as the date.  KEY WORDS IN THE PREAMBLE Certain key words—Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic, Republic, Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity—are explained as follows: Sovereign: The word ‘sovereign’ implies that India is neither a dependency nor a dominion of any other nation, but an independent state. There is no authority above it, and it is free to conduct its own affairs (both internal and external). Socialist: socialism is a ‘democratic socialism’ and nota ‘communistic socialism’ (also known as ‘state socialism’) which involves the nationalisation of all means of production and distribution and the abolition of private property. Democratic socialism, on the other hand, holds faith in a ‘mixed economy’ where both public and private sectors co-existside by side. As the Supreme Court says, ‘Democratic socialism aims to end poverty, ignorance, disease and inequality of opportunity. Indian socialism is a blend of Marxism and Gandhism, leaning heavily towards Gandhian socialism’. The new economic policy (1991) of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation has, however, diluted the socialist credentials of the Indian State. Secular: The Indian Constitution embodies the positive concept of secularism i.e., all religions in our country (irrespective of their strength) have the same status and support from the state. Democratic: Democracy is of two types—direct and indirect. In direct democracy, the people exercise their supreme power directly as is the case in Switzerland. There are four devices of direct democracy, namely, Referendum, Initiative,Recall and Plebiscite. In indirect democracy, on the other hand, the representatives elected by the people exercise the supreme power and thus carry on the government and make the laws. This type of democracy, also known as representative democracy, is of two kinds—parliamentary and presidential The Indian Constitution provides for representative parliamentary democracy under which the executive is responsible to the legislature for all its policies and actions. Universal adult franchise, periodic elections, rule of law, independence of judiciary, and absence of discrimination on certain grounds are the manifestations of the democratic character of the Indian polity.  KEY WORDS IN THE PREAMBLE Republic: A democratic polity can be classified into two categories—monarchy and republic. In a monarchy, the head of the state (usually king or queen) enjoys a hereditary position, that is, he comes into office through succession, eg,Britain. In a republic, on the other hand, the head of the state is always elected directly or indirectly for a fixed period, eg, USA. Therefore, the term ‘republic’ in our Preamble indicates that India has an elected head called the president. He is elected indirectly for a fixed period offive years. A republic also means two more things: one, vesting of political sovereignty in the people and not in a single individual like a king; second, the absence of any privileged class and hence all public offices being opened to every citizen without any discrimination. Justice: The term ‘justice’ in the Preamble embraces three distinct forms—social, economic and political, secured through various provisions of Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles. Social justice denotes the equal treatment of all citizens without any social distinction based on caste, colour, race, religion, sex etc. It means absence of privileges being extended to any particular section of the society, and improvement in the conditions of backward classes (SCs, STs and OBCs) and women. Economic justice denotes the non- discrimination between people on the basis of economic factors. It involves the elimination of glaring inequalities in wealth, income and property. A combination of social justice and economic justice denotes what is known as ‘distributive justice’. Political justice implies that all citizens should have equal political rights, equal access to all political offices and equal voice in the government. The ideal of justice— social, economic and political—has been taken from the Russian Revolution (1917). Liberty: The term ‘liberty’ means the absence of restraints on the activities of individuals, and at the same time, providing opportunities for the development of individual personalities. The Preamble secures to all citizens of India liberty of thought, expression,belief, faith and worship, through their Fundamental Rights, enforceable in court of law, in case of violation. Liberty as elaborated in the Preamble is very essential for the successful functioning of the Indian democratic system. However, liberty does not mean‘license’ to do what one likes, and has to be enjoyed within the limitations mentioned in the Constitution itself. In brief, the liberty conceived by the Preamble or fundamental rights is not absolute but qualified. The ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity in our Preamble have been taken from the French Revolution (1789–1799).  KEY WORDS IN THE PREAMBLE Equality: The term ‘equality’ means the absence of special privileges to any section of the society, and the provision of adequate opportunities for all individuals without any discrimination. The Preamble secures to all citizens of India equality of status and opportunity. This provision embraces three dimensions of equality—civic, political and economic. The following provisions of the chapter on Fundamental Rights ensure civic equality: a) Equality before the law (Article 14). b) Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex orplace of birth (Article 15). c) Equality of opportunity in matters of public employment (Article 16). d) Abolition of untouchability (Article 17). Fraternity: Fraternity means a sense of brotherhood. The Constitution promotes thisfeeling of fraternity by the system of single citizenship. Also, theFundamental Duties (Article 51-A) say that it shall be the duty of every citizen of India to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic, regional or sectional diversities. The Preamble declares that fraternity has to assure two things—the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation. The word ‘integrity’ has been added to the preamble by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment (1976).  SALIENT FEATURES OF THE CONSTITUTION Lengthiest Written Constitution: Constitutions are classified into written, like the American Constitution, or unwritten, like the British Constitution. The Constitution of India is the lengthiest of all the written constitutions of the world. It is a very comprehensive, elaborate and detailed document. Four factors have contributed to the elephantine size of our Constitution. They are: (a) Geographical factors, that is, the vastness of the country and its diversity. (b) Historical factors, e.g., the influence of the Government of India Act of 1935, which was bulky. (c) Single Constitution for both the Centre and the states except Jammu and Kashmir. (d) Dominance of legal luminaries in the Constituent Assembly. Drawn From Various Sources: The Constitution of India has borrowed most of its provisions from the constitutions of various other countries as well as from the Government of India Act of 1935. Dr B R Ambedkar proudly acclaimed that the Constitution of India has been framed after ‘ransacking all the known Constitutions of the World’. The structural part of the Constitution is derived from theGovernment of India Act of 1935. The philosophical part of the Constitution derive their inspiration from the American and Irish Constitutions respectively. The political part of the Constitution have been largely drawn from the British Constitution. The other provisions of the Constitution have been drawn from the constitutions of Canada, Australia, Germany, USSR (now Russia), France, South Africa, Japan, etc. Blend of Rigidity and Flexibility: Constitutions are also classified into rigid and flexible. A rigid Constitution is one that requires a special procedure for its amendment, as for example, the American Constitution. A flexible constitution, on the other hand, is one that can be amended in the same manner as the ordinary laws are made, as for example, the British Constitution. The Constitution of India is neither rigid nor flexible but a synthesis of both. For example: a. Some provisions can be amended by a special majority of the Parliament, i.e., a two-third majority of the members of each House present andvoting, and a majority (that is, more than 50 per cent), of the total membership of each House. b. Some other provisions can be amended by a special majority of theParliament and with the ratification by half of the total states.  SALIENT FEATURES OF THE CONSTITUTION Federal System with Unitary Bias: The Constitution of India establishes a federal system of government. It contains all the usual features of a federation, viz., two government, division of powers, written Constitution, supermacy of Constitution, rigidity of Constitution, independent judiciary etc. However, the Indian Constitution also contains a large number of unitary or non-federal features, viz., a strong Centre, single Constitution, single citizenship, flexibility of Constitution, integrated judiciary, appointment of state governor by the Centre, all-India services, emergency provisions, and so on. Parliamentary Form of Government: The Constitution of India has opted for the British parliamentary System of Government rather than American Presidential System of Government. The parliamentary system is based on the principle of cooperation and co-ordination between the legislative and executive organs while the presidential system is based on the doctrine of separation of powers between the two organs. The features of parliamentary government in India are: (a) Presence of nominal and real executives; (b) Majority party rule (c) Collective responsibility of the executive to the legislature, (d) Membership of the ministers in the legislature, (e) Leadership of the prime minister or the chief minister, (f) Dissolution of the lower House (Lok Sabha or Assembly). NOTE: The Indian Parliamentary System is largely based on the British pattern, there are some fundamental differences between the two. For example, the Indian Parliament is not a sovereign body like the British Parliament. Further, the Indian State has an elected head (republic) while the British State has hereditary head (monarchy).  SALIENT FEATURES OF THE CONSTITUTION Synthesis of Parliamentary Sovereignty and Judicial Supremacy: ✓ The doctrine of sovereignty of Parliament is associated with the BritishParliament while the principle of judicial supremacy with that of the American Supreme Court. ✓ Therefore, the framers of the Indian Constitution have preferred a proper synthesis between the British principle of parliamentary sovereignty and the American principle of judicial supremacy. The Supreme Court, on the one hand, can declare the parliamentary laws as unconstitutional through its power of judicial review. The Parliament, on the other hand, can amend the major portion of the Constitution through its constituent power. Integrated and Independent Judiciary: ✓ The Indian Constitution establishes a judicial system that is integrated as wellas independent. ✓ The Supreme Court stands at the top of the integrated judicial system in thecountry. Below it, there are high courts at the state level. Under a high court, there is a hierarchy of subordinate courts, that is, district courts and other lower courts. This single system of courts enforces both the central laws as well as the state laws. Fundamental Duties: ✓ The original constitution did not provide for the fundamental duties of the citizens. These were added during the operation of internal emergency (1975–77) by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976 on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee. ✓ The fundamental duties serve as a reminder to citizens that while enjoying their rights, they have also to be quite conscious of duties they owe to their country, their society and to their fellow-citizens.  SALIENT FEATURES OF THE CONSTITUTION Fundamental Rights: Part III of the Indian Constitution guarantees six fundamental rights to all the citizens: (a) Right to Equality (Articles 14–18), (b) Right to Freedom (Articles 19–22), (c) Right against Exploitation (Articles 23–24), (d) Right to Freedom of Religion (Articles25–28), (e) Cultural and Educational Rights (Articles 29–30), and (f) Right to Constitutional Remedies (Article 32). The Fundamental Rights are meant for promoting the idea of political democracy. They operate as limitations on the tyranny of the executive and arbitrary laws of the legislature Directive Principles of State Policy: ✓ According to Dr B R Ambedkar, the Directive Principles of State Policy is a ‘novel feature’ of the Indian Constitution. They are enumerated in Part IV of the Constitution. They can be classified into three broad categories— socialistic, Gandhian and liberal–intellectual. ✓ The directive principles are meant for promoting the ideal of social and economic democracy. They seek to establish a ‘welfare state’ in India.  SALIENT FEATURES OF THE CONSTITUTION A Secular State: ✓ The Constitution of India stands for a secular state. Hence, it does not uphold any particular religion as the official religion of the Indian State. The following provisions of the Constitution reveal the secular character of the Indian State: (a) The term ‘secular’ was added to the Preamble of the Indian Constitutionby the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976. (b) The Preamble secures to all citizens of India liberty of belief, faith andworship. (c) The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or equalprotection of the laws (Article 14). (d) The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on the ground ofreligion (Article 15). (e) Equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters of public employment(Article 16). Universal Adult Franchise ✓ The Indian Constitution adopts universal adult franchise as a basis of elections to the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies. Every citizen who is not less than 18 years of age has a right to vote without any discrimination of caste, race, religion, sex, literacy, wealth, and so on. The voting age was reduced to 18 years from 21 years in 1989 by the 61st Constitutional Amendment Act of 1988.  SALIENT FEATURES OF THE CONSTITUTION Single Citizenship ✓ Though the Indian Constitution is federal and envisages a dual polity (Centre and states), it provides for only a single citizenship, that is, the Indian citizenship. Independent Bodies ✓ The Indian Constitution not only provides for the legislative, executive and judicial organs of the government (Central and state) but also establishes certain independent bodies. They are envisaged by the Constitution as the bulworks of the democratic system of Government in India. These are: (a) Election Commission to ensure free and fair elections to the Parliament, the state legislatures, the office of President of India and the office of Vice-president of India. (b) Comptroller and Auditor-General of India to audit the accounts of the Central and state governments. He acts as the guardian of public purse andcomments on the legality and propriety of government expenditure. (c) Union Public Service Commission to conduct examinations for recruitment to all-India services and higher Central services and to advise the President on disciplinary matters. (d) State Public Service Commission in every state to conduct examinations for recruitment to state services and to advice the governor on disciplinary matters.