ASSIGNMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

TOPIC
DOCTRINE OF COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITIES OF MINISTERS

SUBMITTED TO: DR. VAGISH UPADHYAY

SUBMITTED BY: JAYA VATS
BATCH: BBA LLB (H)
SECTION: A
ENROLLMENT: 18FLICDDN01049
DOCTRINE OF COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY OF MINISTERS

INTRODUCTION

Indian constitution-makers have chosen the Parliamentary form of government over the Presidential
kind of government. Because they wanted a responsible form of government, this responsibility is
not only for the government as a whole but also for every member of the government. Every
member of government is accountable for the work they do under the office of the government of
India. In this article, we are going to discuss what is “Collective responsibility of the council of
ministers” in details.

What is collective responsibility?

As we know that the Prime Minister selects the number of cabinet minister from the Lok
sabha and Rajya sabha. Once chosen as cabinet ministers each Minister is given a position of
head of the department of different ministries. As soon they become minister the principle of
collective responsibility is imposed on them.
Cabinet minister responds to the oral and written questions from the members of parliament.
The cabinet ministers, along with the prime ministers, schedule a timely closed-door
session to discuss collective stands of the cabinet to avoid inconsistent response from the
ministers.
The solidarity of the cabinet is consistently challenged by the opposition, in an attempt
to crest contradiction between the ministers. The idea is to scrutinise the work of the
cabinet, using the parliamentary platform.
It is therefore vital for all the cabinet members to have inline their response with the
rest of the cabinet ministers. And this effort results as the collective cabinet
responsibility.
So we can define the cabinet collectively responsibility as the constitutional convention
as the members of the parliament must publicly support all governmental decision
made in the cabinet even if they do not privately agree with that.
This support includes in the voting of the governmental bills in the legislature. Purpose of this
support is to have a strong front by the government. So, the government can withstand the
political and public pressure.
Constrains by collective Ministerial responsibility
The collective responsibility puts a few constraints on the members of the cabinet. So if a
member of a cabinet wants to object the cabinet’s decision openly, then they are obelised to
resign from the cabinet.

 Collective responsibility in the Presidential form of government

Unlike the Presidential system used in the United States, in our parliamentary system, the
executive and legislative branches are intertwined. In non-parliamentary government, as in
the US, collective cabinet responsibility is not formally practised. This is due to the clear
separation between executive and legislative in the policymaking.
The United States President cabinet members cannot simultaneously serve in Congress, and
the government and therefore cannot vote on legislation supported by the executive.
The president instead has the veto power over legislation passed by Congress to keep a check
the powers of the Congress.
In the US, the cabinet unity and the collective agreement between the members are essential
to cabinet stability and party politics. But cabinet members do not have to support the
legislation proposed by the president publically.
It is, however, in cabinet member’s best interest to support and align with the president’s
policy, because they serve as the pleasure of the president. Who can any time dismiss them?

 Features of cabinet collective responsibility of the council of ministers

The collective cabinet responsibility consists of two main elements.
 Cabinet Confidentiality
 Cabinet Solidarity
Cabinet Conditionality: It means that the cabinet members must not reveal the content of
the discussion, which takes place in the cabinet. This allows the cabinet members to privately
debate and raise a concern without any political fears and pressure.
Cabinet Solidarity: It means that the members of the cabinets must publically show a
unified position and must in favour of government even if they privately disagree.
This feature can be compared with the court’s judgement, where the majority judgement
remains valid even though some judges might dissent with the decision. The only difference
being the court’s dissent being public, whereas the cabinet dissent is not open.

In India, the doctrine of collective responsibility applies to all members of the government
from the members of the cabinet down to Minister of states.
  Another meaning of Collective Responsibility
Indian parliament consists of two houses the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The lower house
Lok Sabha is composed of an elected member, directly from the people of India. The
members are no other than the representative of people.
So when the Council of Minister shows their responsibility towards the Lok Sabha, it means,
they are responsible towards the representatives of people or indirectly to the people of India.
And this is how the whole government is indirectly responsible for their work towards the
people of India.

Constitutional Provisions
The article 74 the Indian constitution says that the whole council of Minister is collectively
responsible towards the Lok sabha.
 The whole council of Minister will work as a team.
 Every Minister will have the same sort of responsibility.
 And if a no-confidence motion is passed even for a single minister, the whole council
of Minister will have to resign.
 No minister can express their view against the decision of the cabinet. If they do so,
then they have to resign from the cabinet.
Similar to the Union government, the states government also follow the doctrine of Collective
responsibility. The article 164 talks about the responsibility of ministers of state government.
What is Cabinet Ministers and Council of Ministers
Council of ministers is a governmental body that consists of around 60 to 70 ministers. All
the ministers of the council can be divided into three categories, Cabinet ministers, Ministers
of States and Deputy Ministers.
The whole council of Minister never conducts joint sessions. It means they don’t of any
collective work to do.
Cabinet Ministers are a category of ministers which consists of 10 to 15 members. Every
cabinet minister is given a position of head of the department of different ministries under the
government of India. They conduct a closed-door session to decide the stand of the
government.
President and the council of Ministers
The president works on the recommendation of the council of Minister. The president of
India is bound to follow all the advice given by the ministers. But the president is not bound
to follow the advice of a government which is not having the majority of the house. But it is
worth mentioning that the collective responsibility is not President of India has nothing to do
with the Collective responsibility of the council of ministers.

Collective Responsibility -

 The fundamental principle in working of parliamentary system of government is the

principle of collective responsibility.
 Article 75 clearly states that the council of ministers is collectively responsible to the
Lok Sabha.
 This means that all the ministers own joint responsibility to the Lok Sabha for all their
acts of omission and commission.
 When the Lok Sabha passes a no-confidence motion against the council of ministers,
all the ministers have to resign including those ministers who are from the Rajya
Sabha.
 Each minister need not resign separately; the resignation of the prime minister
amounts to the resignation of the entire council of ministers.
 Alternatively, the council of ministers can advise the president to dissolve the Lok
Sabha on the ground that the House does not represent the views of the electorate
faithfully and call for fresh elections.
 The President may not oblige the council of ministers that has lost the confidence of
the Lok Sabha.
 The principle of collective responsibility also means that the Cabinet decisions bind
all cabinet ministers (and other ministers) even if they differed in the cabinet meeting.
 It is the duty of every minister to stand by cabinet decisions and support them both
within and outside the Parliament.
 If any minister disagrees with a cabinet decision and is not prepared to defend it, he
must resign.

 Ministerial responsibility is a constitutional convention in governments using the

Westminster System that a cabinet of ministers or an individual minister bears the
ultimate responsibility for the actions of their ministry or department. It is generally
said to be the principle of responsible government. A responsible government is the
one which is accountable to the people who put that government into power (article
8). This responsibility is made or seen through people’s representatives, that is the
parliament. So the government is held responsible or accountable for its actions by the
National Assembly. Dicey recognized ministerial responsibility in one of his last and
most perceptive articles. Commenting on the decision of the House of Lords in Local
Government Board V Arlidge, he referred to the observation of the Lord Chancellor
that, “the minister at the head of the Board is directly responsible to the parliament…
 and the only authority that can review what has been done is the parliament to which
the minister in charge is responsible.”

The concept of ministerial responsibility is central to the British version of democracy.

Britain has a strong executive and the effectiveness of democracy depends on the degree of
control which parliament exercises over current government activities and the extent of
accountability (holding the government responsible for past actions).

 The concept of ministerial responsibility antedates the modern party system. It

developed at a time in the nineteenth century when the role of the government was
limited and a competent minister could be assumed to have personal control of a
department. The growth of mass parties, and the welfare state have changed the nature
of the convention, but it remains an important aspect of the UK political system and
the uncodified constitution. Ministerial responsibility developed, then, within the
historic canons of “strong government” and the need for secrecy. It was very much
designed to protect the state, to strengthen the two-party system and to shore up
Britain’s flexible governing arrangement. Beattie, however, distinguishes two strands
of the idea of ministerial responsibility-a more representative “Whig” theory which
stresses the need of political control to be paramount and for government to be held
responsible for the state actions, and ‘Peelite’ theory which saw the doctrine as means
of limiting democratic control to ensure that the business of the government could be
carried forward undisturbed and the stability of the state safeguarded. In practice the
two views have combined to elevate the role of ministers and justify the unlimited
notion of the parliamentary sovereignty.

 Ministerial responsibility can be divided into two categories namely, individual

ministerial responsibility and collective ministerial responsibility.

 Individual ministerial responsibility is in the sense that the minister in charge of a

department is alone answerable to the Parliament and the President for the exercise of
the powers on which the administration of the department depends. This means that if
misuse, corruption, or any other misbehavior is found to have occurred within a
ministry, the minister is responsible even if the minister had no knowledge of the
actions. A minister is ultimately responsible for all actions by a ministry. Even
without knowledge of any breach by subordinates the minister approved the hiring
and continued employment of those civil servants and the misdeeds are found to have
occurred in a ministry the minister is expected to resign. Individual Ministerial
Responsibility was clearly stipulated in the Crichel Down affair in 1954 in which the
Minister of Agriculture, Thomas Dugdale, resigned, despite an inquiry suggesting that
all mistakes were made within his department without his knowledge, and in some
cases due to deliberate deceit by civil servants.
  Collective Ministerial responsibility is constitutional convention in governments
using the Westminster System that members of the Cabinet must publicly support all
governmental decisions made in Cabinet, even if they do not privately agree with
them. This support includes voting for the government in the legislature. In the United
Kingdom, the doctrine applies to all members of the government, from members of
the cabinet down to Parliamentary Private Secretaries. Some political parties apply the
convention to their central committee. Its inner workings are set out in the Ministerial
Code. It is related to the fact that, if a vote of no confidence is passed in parliament,
the government is responsible collectively, and thus the entire government resigns.
The consequence will be that a new government will be formed, or parliament will
dissolve and a general election will be called. Cabinet collective responsibility is not
the same as individual ministerial responsibility, which states that ministers are
responsible and therefore culpable for the running of their departments.

 The extended application of the Collective Ministerial Responsibility is in a way that

Ministers are bound by all decisions of Cabinet, even those taken in committees (or
‘inner Cabinets”) of which they were not members and which never reached full
Cabinet. Thus, Collective Responsibility applies even where a Minister had no part in
the discussion of a full cabinet. Also, collective responsibility applies even where a
Minister had no part in the discussion or decision or to decisions of which a Minister
was not aware at the time but to which he subsequently gave his unspoken approval
by continuing in office.

 Ministerial responsibility as a constitutional convention

Constitutional lawyers who claim that Ministerial Responsibility is a constitutional

convention give the following arguments.
Constitutional conventions are not obligatory, but are in effect, procedural agreements
which all sides adhere. However, conventions are rarely ever broken. Unless there is a
general agreement on the breach, the person who breaks a convention is often heavily
criticized on occasions leading to loss of respect or popular support. Geoffrey Marshall
contends that the effective operation of ministerial responsibility depends upon the integrity
of the minister concerned and the extent to which the acceptance of responsibility is a matter
of principles rather than political pragmatism.
 Articles 74 & 75 of the constitution of India deal with the Council of Ministers and
Prime Minister. These articles have below provisions.

 Article 74(1): There shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the
head to aid and advise the President who shall, in the exercise of his functions, act in
accordance with such advice. The president may require the council of ministers to
reconsider such advice and president shall act in accordance with such advice
reconsidered.

 Article 74(2): What advice was tendered to the president cannot be inquired into any
court.

 Article 75(1): The Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President and the other
Ministers shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister.

 Article 75(2): The Ministers shall hold office during the pleasure of the President.

 Article 75(3): The Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the House
of the People.

 Article 75(4): Before a Minister enters upon his office, the President shall administer
to him the oaths of office and of secrecy according to the forms set out for the purpose
in the Third Schedule.

 Article 75(5): A Minister must be a member of any of the houses within 6 months.

 Article 75(6): Parliament will decide the salary and allowances of the Ministers and
until parliament decides, so shall be as specified in the Second Schedule.
  Article 75(3) of the Indian Constitution makes the council of ministers
collectively responsible to the house of people or the Lok Sabha. This means:
a) Every minister must own the decision of cabinet (council of ministers in a broader sense)
as his own. The ministers swim and sink together. When a decision has been made in meeting
of the cabinet, the ministers must stand by it notwithstanding whether they were absent in the
meeting in which the conclusion was reached or disagreed with such a decision when it was
being discussed.
b) Every minister should defend the policies of the Government in the parliament. Any
minister unwilling to do so should resign.
c) The decision of the council is taken to be the joint decision of all the minsters and they are
held responsible together for its consequences, whether good or bad. They are answerable to
the parliament for their acts of omissions and commissions.
d) The council of minsters remain in power as long as they enjoy the confidence of the Lok
Sabha. Hence if a no-confidence motion moved by the opposition is passed or if a motion of
confidence moved by the government is defeated the entire council has to resign.
e) If the Prime Minister resigns from his office then also the council of ministers has to bear
the responsibility and resign collectively. No Minister should be retained in office if their
leader that is the Prime Minister himself says that he should be dismissed.
In brief 'collective responsibility' means that the council of ministers is responsible for every
action of the Government (Executive) as a single unit before the Popularly elected house of
the Legislature that is the Lok Sabha as they act as a bridge between the Executive and the
Legislature. This is widely accepted as one of the salient features of the Parliamentary form
of Government.

 Ministerial Responsibility as a Constitutional doctrine

Constitutional lawyers such as Wade and Bradley argue that ministerial responsibility is a
constitutional doctrine. They contend that the court or judiciary can control ministers’
decisions, despite the fact that the ministers are answerable to the parliament in consequence
to their orders or acts. In addition, in Carltona Ltd V Commissioner of Work], the court
stated that the ministers are responsible for the acts of their subordinates. Furthermore,
Ministerial responsibility is a innovation of the England Bill of Rights of 1688 and it was
until 1832 when this doctrine got its true profile and the force of law.
  CONCLUSION

By the term 'collective responsibility', it means that the Council of Ministers swim and sink
as a team. They take office together, defend each other together, and leave together.
If the head of the Council of Ministers i.e. Prime Minister has a no-confidence motion passed
against him, his entire team of Ministers must resign.
If any of the Ministers' proposed bills are not passed in entirety by the lower house, the
Council of Ministers must resign collectively.
A minister can voice his own opinion and views only during the Cabinet meetings, but on the
floor of the House, he must support the PM and defend the decisions of the Council of
Ministers, irrespective of his personal beliefs.
Simply put, Collective Responsibility means that all the Ministers are collectively responsible
before the legislature for all acts of commission and omission of the Executive. Every
minister must defend each other and the policies of the PM till the end. (The only way out, is
for a Minister to give his letter of resignation to the PM.)
it is not only council of ministers but also the other MPs as they are the people chosen by the
majority people of India. Even opposition leader or an MP has a right to do the justice to the
people by raising the concern of the public for any harm going to do in the act of any Bill.
Rather it is the ability of the leader or any MP to convenience the parliamentarians for any
Bill, what is good or what is bad? It is not that we will oppose GST Bill or any other issue for
sake of opposition only or to give harassment to the government but it must be remembered
that the harassment is not to the government rather it is to the public because, the
government is chosen by the public... Every Parliamentarian should be the most responsible
patriot to discharge his or her duty with proper dignity and responsibility keeping in mind the
good or sufferings of the country men without thinking for self, or party.
The Principle of "Collective Responsibility", as stated by Article 75 of the constitution is the
bedrock of the parliamentary system. This means that all the ministers (including the ones
selected from the Rajya Sabha) are jointly responsible for the Lok sabha. They swim or sink
together. When the Lok sabha passes a no confidence motion against a minister, the entire
ministry should resign.