Indian Polity & Constitution MCQs

Notes:
Article 151. Audit Reports :-
(1) The reports of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India relating to the accounts of the Union shall be submitted to the president, who shall cause them to be laid before each House of Parliament.
(2) The reports of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India relating to the accounts of a State shall be submitted to the Governor of the State, who shall cause them to be laid before the Legislature of the State.

Notes:
Schedules are lists in the Constitution of India that categorize and tabulate bureaucratic activities and policy of the Government. Indian Constitution had originally eight schedules. 9th schedule was added via First Amendment Act. 10th Schedule was first added by 35th Amendment (Sikkim as Associate State) but as Sikkim became a state of India, the original 10 Schedule was repealed. Later it was added once again by 52th Amendment Act, 1985 to park the anti-defection law. Eleventh Schedule was added by 73rd amendment and has list of subjects under the Panchayat Raj institutions or rural local government. Twelfth Schedule was added by 74th amendment and enlists the subjects under Municipalities or urban local government.

Notes:
Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is one of the standing parliamentary committees, which was first established in 1921 under the Government of India Act 1919 provisions. This committee examines the manners and results of spending the public funds.
Public Accounts Committee has 22 members of which 15 are from Lok Sabha while 7 from Rajya Sabha. The members are “elected” by members of Parliament amongst themselves via a system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote; so that all parties get due representation in it. Members are elected for a period of one year. A minister cannot be a member of PAC.
Chairman of PAC is appointed by Speaker from its members. The chairman used to be of ruling party till mid 1960s, however, now the chairman of PAC is from opposition by convention.

Notes:
Mandamus means “we command”. This writ is a command issued by court to a public official, public body, corporation, inferior court, tribunal or government asking them to perform their duties which they have refused to perform.

Notes:
Federal Court of India was established in 1937 under Government of India Act 1935. This court had original, appellate and advisory jurisdiction but appeals could be taken from that court to Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. It worked until 1950 when Supreme Court of India was established.

Notes:
The Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were used for the first time in part of Parur Assembly Constituency in Kerala in 1982, on experimental basis. Later, the extensive use of EVMs started in 1998.

Notes:
Article 19 (1) (a) includes the right to know and the right to be informed. Its worth note that Media (print and electronic) are the eyes and ears of the citizen and unless media freedom to report court proceedings is protected the right to know is impaired.

Notes:
If any question arises as to whether a member of the House has become subject to disqualification under article 102 (1), the question is referred for the decision of the President and his decision is final. The President generally obtains the opinion of the Election Commission of India before giving decision on any such matter. However, if under article 102 (2) any question arises as to whether a member of the House has become subject to disqualification under the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution, the question is referred to the Chairman, Rajya Sabha and in this case the chairman’s decision is final.

Notes:
The office of the Advocate General in state corresponds to the office of Attorney General of India. The Governor of each State shall appoint a person who is qualified to be appointed as a Judge of a High Court to be Advocate General for the State. The Governorappoints the Advocate General of the state.

Notes:
Article 21 states that no one maybe deprived of their life or liberty unless it is by due procedure of law. In the first 25 years or so, this Article was very narrowly interpreted by the Supreme Court to mean that no matter what the procedure of law stated, as long as it was followed, deprivation of one’s life and liberty was not illegal.