Salient Features of the Indian Constitution: UPPSC GS-II Notes

What are the key features of the Constitution?

Features can be grouped under four heads for easy revision: the nature of the State, the rights of the citizen, the distribution of power and the independent judiciary. Each head connects to Parts and provisions listed later in these notes, so read the sections together.

The Constitution establishes India as a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic with a Parliamentary form of Government. It is the supreme legal authority that binds the legislative, executive and judicial organs.

The Preamble resolves to secure justice, liberty, equality and fraternity for all citizens.

How is the Constitution organised?

A simple way to learn the layout is to move from the State to the citizen to the government. Parts I and II deal with the territory and citizenship. Parts III to IVA deal with rights, directive principles and duties. Parts V and VI deal with the Union and the States. Later Parts cover local bodies, relations between the Union and the States, elections, emergency and amendment.

The text is arranged in Parts. The table lists some of the Parts that students must place correctly.

Article 368 in Part XX gives the power of Parliament to amend the Constitution and sets out the procedure.

How are powers divided between the Union and the States?

Federalism in India is shaped by the Seventh Schedule rather than by a rigid separation. The Constitution gives the Union stronger powers in case of conflict, yet it protects the field of the State List for State Legislatures. For exam answers, describe India as a federal system with a strong Union bias and explain it through the repugnancy rule.

The Seventh Schedule has three lists: the Union List, the State List and the Concurrent List. Parliament makes laws on the Union List, State Legislatures on the State List, and both on the Concurrent List. Only Parliament can legislate on matters in neither the State nor the Concurrent List.

1. Subject is listed in Seventh Schedule ↓
2. Union List: Parliament ↓
3. State List: State Legislature ↓
4. Concurrent List: both ↓
5. Conflict: Parliament's law prevails unless State law has Presidential assent

If a State law conflicts with a law of Parliament on a Concurrent subject, the Parliament's law prevails to the extent of repugnancy. A State law that has received the assent of the President prevails in that State.

What is the role of the Supreme Court?

The Constitution is the supreme law, so someone must interpret it and guard it. That task falls to the courts, with the Supreme Court as the final authority. Because the Court can invalidate laws that violate the Constitution, it shapes how the basic provisions evolve over time.

The Constitution provides a single integrated system of courts to administer both Union and State laws. The Supreme Court is at the apex, followed by the High Courts and the district courts. Its decisions bind all courts in the territory of India.

• The Court consists of the Chief Justice of India and not more than 37 other judges appointed by the President.
• Judges retire at the age of 65.
• A Judge can be removed only by the President after an address by each House of Parliament, backed by a majority of total membership and two thirds of those present and voting.
• The independence of the judiciary is part of the basic structure of the Constitution.

The basic structure idea limits the power of amendment. For the cases that shaped it, refer to the Basic Structure Judgment page on the Supreme Court website.