[Mission 2022] QUIZ – 2020: INSIGHTS STATIC QUIZ , 4 October 2021 – Polity – INSIGHTSIAS

Solution: b)

Appropriation Bill is a money bill that allows the government to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Fund of India to meet its expenses during the course of a financial year.

As per article 114 of the Constitution, the government can withdraw money from the Consolidated Fund only after receiving approval from Parliament.

What happens when the bill is defeated?

Since India subscribes to the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy, the defeat of an Appropriation Bill in a parliamentary vote would necessitate resignation of a government or a general election. This has never happened in India till date, though.

Solution: a)

The Constitution also includes contempt of court as a reasonable restriction to the freedom of speech and expression under Article 19, along with elements like public order and defamation.

There is no requirement for the Supreme Court to take Attorney General’s consent in initiating a criminal contempt proceeding on its own as it exercises “inherent power” under the Constitution in issuing the show cause notice.

Solution: b)

President’s Rule is imposed when the state or union territory’s government is suspended and the Centre takes direct control of the region. In President’s Rule, the Governor becomes the constitutional head of the state. The Vidhan Sabha is either dissolved or prorogued.

Initially valid for six months, the President’s Rule can be extended for a maximum period of three years with the approval of the Parliament, every six months.

In 2021, President’s rule was imposed in Puducherry.

Solution: d)

Like any other modern state, India has two kinds of people—citizens and aliens. Citizens are full members of the Indian State and owe allegiance to it. They enjoy all civil and political rights. Aliens, on the other hand, are the citizens of some other state and hence, do not enjoy all the civil and political rights.

They are of two categories—friendly aliens or enemy aliens.

• Friendly aliens are the subjects of those countries that have cordial relations with India. Enemy aliens, on the other hand, are the subjects of that country that is at war with India. They enjoy lesser rights than the friendly aliens, eg, they do not enjoy protection against arrest and detention (Article 22).

The Constitution confers the following rights and privileges on the citizens of India (and denies the same to aliens):

1. Right against discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth (Article 15).
2. Right to equality of opportunity in the matter of public employment (Article 16).
3. Right to freedom of speech and expression, assembly, association, movement, residence and profession (Article 19).
4. Cultural and educational rights (Articles 29 and 30).
5. Right to vote in elections to the Lok Sabha and state legislative assembly.
6. Right to contest for the membership of the Parliament and the state legislature.

Eligibility to hold certain public offices, that is, President of India, Vice-President of India, judges of the Supreme Court and the high courts, Governor of states, Attorney General of India and Advocate General of states.

Solution: a)

The concept of ‘equality before law’ is an element of the concept of ‘Rule of Law’, propounded by A.V. Dicey, the British jurist.

His concept has the following three elements or aspects:

(i) Absence of arbitrary power, that is, no man can be punished except for a breach of law.

(ii) Equality before the law, that is, equal subjection of all citizens (rich or poor, high or low, official or non-official) to the ordinary law of the land administered by the ordinary law courts.

(iii) The primacy of the rights of the individual, that is, the constitution is the result of the rights of the individual as defined and enforced by the courts of law rather than the constitution being the source of the individual rights.

The first and the second elements are applicable to the Indian System and not the third one. In the Indian System, the constitution is the source of the individual rights.

The Supreme Court held that the ‘Rule of Law’ as embodied in Article 14 is a ‘basic feature’ of the constitution. Hence, it cannot be destroyed even by an amendment.