Powers of the President and the veto

Detail

1. The basic rule: formal powers, used on advice

• The President is the head of the state. The Constitution gives the President many powers on paper.
• Executive power of the Union is vested in the President (Art. 53). The President may use it directly or through officers below them.
• In practice, the executive, legislative, judicial and emergency powers are used only on the advice of the Council of Ministers led by the Prime Minister (NCERT, Class 11).
• Art. 74(1) says the President shall act on this advice.

• The President may send the advice back once for reconsideration. The President must then follow the advice given after that reconsideration (Art. 74(1) proviso, added by the 44th Amendment, 1978).

• Class 8 NCERT puts the President's role simply: the President appoints the ministers, summons Parliament and gives assent to bills.

2. Executive powers

• All executive action of the Government of India is taken in the President's name (Art. 77). Rules of business say how orders are signed and how work is divided among ministries.
• Appointments (all made on advice):

Office	Article
Prime Minister and other ministers	Art. 75
Attorney General	Art. 76
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)	Art. 148
Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners	Art. 324
Chairman and members of the UPSC	Art. 316
Governors of states	Art. 155
Finance Commission	Art. 280

• Union Territories (UTs) are run by the President through an administrator (Art. 239).
• Scheduled Areas (tribal areas given special protection) are declared by the President under the Fifth Schedule.

3. Legislative powers

The President is a part of Parliament (Art. 79).

• Summons both Houses, prorogues them (ends a session) and dissolves the Lok Sabha (Art. 85).
• Addresses both Houses at the first session after each general election and at the first session of each year (Art. 87).
• Calls a joint sitting (a meeting of both Houses together) to settle a deadlock on an ordinary bill (Art. 108).
• Nominates 12 members to the Rajya Sabha for their knowledge of literature, science, art and social service (Art. 80).
• Prior recommendation (the President's permission before a bill can be introduced) is needed for:
• money bills and financial bills (Art. 117). A money bill is a bill only about taxes, government borrowing or spending. The Rajya Sabha can delay it for only 14 days.
• bills to create new states or change state borders (Art. 3).

• bills affecting taxes in which states have an interest (Art. 274).

• Makes ordinances (temporary laws issued when Parliament is not in session) under Art. 123. See the ordinance section.

• Lays reports before Parliament: the CAG report (Art. 151), the UPSC report (Art. 323) and the Finance Commission report (Art. 281).

4. Financial powers

• The budget (Annual Financial Statement) is laid before Parliament in the President's name (Art. 112).
• The Contingency Fund of India (money kept for urgent, unforeseen spending) is placed at the President's disposal (Art. 267). Parliament approves the spending later.

5. Judicial powers

• Appoints judges of the Supreme Court (Art. 124) and the High Courts (Art. 217).
• Grants pardons, reprieves, respites and remissions, and can suspend or reduce sentences (Art. 72). See the pardon section.
• Advisory jurisdiction (Art. 143): the President may ask the Supreme Court for its opinion on a question of law or fact of public importance.
• Recent example: the President sent 14 questions on Arts. 200 and 201 on 13 May 2025 (Special Reference No. 1 of 2025, the 16th Presidential Reference) [2][3].

6. Military and diplomatic powers

• Supreme command of the defence forces is vested in the President (Art. 53(2)). Parliament regulates how it is used.
• Treaties are signed and ambassadors and envoys are sent and received in the President's name.

7. Emergency powers

• National emergency (war, external aggression or armed rebellion) is covered by Art. 352.
• President's rule in a state (failure of constitutional machinery) is covered by Art. 356.
• Financial emergency is covered by Art. 360.
• Details are in emergency-provisions.

8. Veto over Union bills (Art. 111)

• Veto means the power of the executive to stop or delay a bill passed by the legislature.
• When Parliament passes a bill, it goes to the President. The President declares assent or withholds assent [5].
• For a non-money bill, the President may instead return it "as soon as possible" with a message asking the Houses to reconsider it, or parts of it [5].
• If the Houses pass it again, with or without amendments, the President shall not withhold assent [5].

Assent procedure for a Union bill:

1. Both Houses pass the bill. An ordinary bill needs a simple majority. A constitution amendment bill needs the special majority of Art. 368.
2. The bill goes to the President.
3. The President chooses one of three things: assent, withhold assent, or return it (non-money bills only).
4. If the bill is returned, Parliament reconsiders it. A simple majority is enough to pass it again.
5. The re-passed bill goes back to the President. Assent is now compulsory.

Type of veto	Meaning	Indian example
Absolute veto	The President withholds assent and the bill dies	PEPSU Appropriation Bill, 1954 (Rajendra Prasad). Also the 1991 bill on MPs' salaries, allowances and pensions (R. Venkataraman). It is also typically used on private members' bills (bills moved by MPs who are not ministers) and on bills left pending when a cabinet resigns before assent
Suspensive veto	The President returns a non-money bill once. Parliament can override it by passing the bill again with a simple majority	2006: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam returned the office-of-profit bill, which protected MPs from disqualification. Parliament passed it again unchanged, and he signed it [5]
Pocket veto	The President neither signs nor returns the bill and keeps it pending. This works because Art. 111 sets no time limit	Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill, 1986: see below
Qualified veto	A veto that the legislature can override only by a higher majority (e.g. a two-thirds vote in the US Congress)	India has none. Re-passing a bill by simple majority already binds the President

The Post Office Bill case (pocket veto):

• 1986: Parliament passed the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill. Critics said it would let the government open and read letters and curb press freedom.
• President Zail Singh neither signed nor returned it. He used the pocket veto.
• His successor, R. Venkataraman, returned the bill. The new government formed after the 1989 election never revived it.

Bills the President cannot veto in the usual way:

• Money bills are not returned. They come to Parliament only with the President's prior recommendation (Art. 117), so the President has already approved them in principle.
• Constitution amendment bills: the 24th Amendment, 1971 changed Art. 368. The text "presented to the President for his assent" became "presented to the President who shall give his assent". Assent is now compulsory [6][7].
• The Amendment itself received assent and came into force on 5 November 1971 [6].

9. State bills reserved by Governors (Art. 201)

How a state bill reaches the President:

1. The state legislature passes a bill. It goes to the Governor under Art. 200.
2. The Governor has three options: give assent, reserve the bill for the President, or withhold assent and return it with comments. The last option is for non-money bills only [2][3].

3. If the bill is reserved, the President acts under Art. 201 and may: - give assent, or - withhold assent, or - for a non-money bill, direct the Governor to return it to the legislature.

4. The legislature must reconsider it within six months. It then sends the bill back to the President.

5. The President is not bound to sign it, even if the legislature passes it again. This is unlike Art. 111 for Union bills.

Two 2025 rulings that point in opposite directions:

Point	State of Tamil Nadu v. Governor of Tamil Nadu (April 2025), a two-judge bench	Opinion on Special Reference No. 1 of 2025 (20 November 2025), a five-judge bench
Facts / bench	Governor sat on 12 bills passed between January 2020 and April 2023. 10 were re-passed in November 2023 and then reserved [4]	CJI B.R. Gavai, Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, P.S. Narasimha, A.S. Chandurkar [3]
Timelines	Governor: 1 month when acting on ministers' advice, 3 months when acting against it, 1 month for a re-passed bill. President: 3 months to decide on a reserved bill [4]	Courts cannot prescribe timelines, either for the Governor (Art. 200) or for the President (Art. 201) [3]
Deemed assent	The 10 bills were deemed to have received assent in November 2023 [4]	No "deemed assent", even under Art. 142 (the Supreme Court's power to do "complete justice") [3]
Justiciability (whether courts can review it)	Some reservation and withholding decisions can be reviewed by courts [4]	Decisions under Arts. 200 and 201 are not justiciable before the bill becomes law. Courts cannot judge the contents of a bill before then [3]

Other answers in the November 2025 opinion:

• The Governor has discretion under Art. 200. The Governor is not bound by the Council of Ministers' advice when choosing among the three options [2][3].
• Limited mandamus: a writ of mandamus is a court order telling an official to do a duty. Only when the Governor's inaction is "prolonged, unexplained and indefinite" may the Court issue a limited mandamus. Even then, the Court only asks the Governor to decide within a reasonable time. It does not comment on what the decision should be [3].
• Art. 361: the Governor has personal immunity from court cases. But the office of the Governor is still subject to the Court's jurisdiction when there is prolonged inaction [3].
• The President need not seek the Court's opinion under Art. 143 every time a bill is reserved. The President's "subjective satisfaction" (own judgement) is enough [3].
• A state law cannot come into force without the Governor's assent. No other authority can take over the Governor's role [3].
• Questions 12–14 were returned unanswered (on Art. 145(3), the full scope of Art. 142, and Art. 131) [3].
• Governor-side detail is in state-government-governor.

Prelims Hooks

• Art. 111 covers assent to Union bills. Art. 201 covers state bills reserved by the Governor. Art. 200 covers the Governor's options.
• Suspensive veto: if Parliament re-passes a returned bill by simple majority, assent is compulsory. India has no qualified veto.
• Pocket veto: possible because Art. 111 has no time limit. Example: Zail Singh and the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill, 1986.
• Absolute veto: PEPSU Appropriation Bill, 1954. Suspensive veto: Kalam, office-of-profit bill, 2006.
• Money bills cannot be returned (prior recommendation under Art. 117). Assent to a constitution amendment bill is compulsory under the 24th Amendment, 1971 (Art. 368(2)).
• Trap: for a state bill re-passed after being returned under Art. 201, the President is not bound to assent. For a Union bill re-passed under Art. 111, the President is bound.
• Special Reference No. 1 of 2025: opinion given on 20 November 2025 by a five-judge bench led by CJI B.R. Gavai. No judicial timelines, no deemed assent even under Art. 142, and a limited mandamus only for prolonged inaction.
• State of Tamil Nadu v. Governor of Tamil Nadu (April 2025): set a 3-month timeline for the President and deemed 10 bills assented.
• Appointment articles: CAG, Art. 148; Finance Commission, Art. 280; UPSC, Art. 316; Attorney General, Art. 76; Election Commission, Art. 324.
• Contingency Fund of India is at the President's disposal under Art. 267. Reports laid before Parliament: CAG (Art. 151), UPSC (Art. 323), Finance Commission (Art. 281).

Mains Points

• Rubber stamp or check? All powers are used on advice (Art. 74). Still, the suspensive veto, the pocket veto and the one-time return of advice give the President a moral check. Example: Kalam in 2006 made Parliament think again, even though the bill was re-passed. Zail Singh in 1986 delayed a bill that threatened press freedom.
• The no-time-limit problem: the missing deadline in Arts. 111, 200 and 201 lets a President or Governor sit on bills. Tamil Nadu (April 2025) tried to fix this with timelines and deemed assent. The November 2025 opinion said this is for the Constitution, not the courts. So the real fix is a constitutional amendment that sets deadlines, with only a limited mandamus as the fallback.
• Federalism angle: under Art. 201, the President (meaning the Union cabinet) can block a state law forever, even after the state re-passes it. States see this as Union control over state laws. The other side argues it is needed to protect national laws and the rights of High Courts.
• Separation of powers: the November 2025 opinion keeps courts out of the law-making process until a law comes into force. This protects the legislature and the executive. Critics say it leaves states with weak remedies against delay.