AssamExam

Veto Power of the President of India

– Indian Polity Notes for APSC Exam

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A veto is the power to unilaterally stop an official action or enactment of legislation. A veto can be absolute or it can be limited. In India, the president has three veto powers.

Article 111 of the Constitution of India provides the Veto powers of the President of India.

When a Bill has been passed by the Houses of Parliament, it shall be presented to the President, and the President shall declare either

• assents to the Bill, or
• withholds assent therefrom.

Article 111 sets no definite timeline but it state that the President may return the Bill “as soon as possible” to the Houses with a message to reconsider it. However, if the Houses enact the Bill with or without amendments and present it to the President for assent, “the President shall not withhold assent therefrom”.

For a Bill to become an Act, the President’s assent is must. The Indian President can sit on a Bill indefinitely.

Zail Singh, the President of India from 1982 until 1987, exercised a pocket veto to prevent the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill from becoming law.

 

The President of India has three types of veto powers?

The three types of Vetoes are:

1. Absolute Veto
2. Suspensive Veto
3. Pocket Veto

 

 

Absolute Veto

• When the President exercises his absolute veto, a bill does not become an act. The bill ends even after passed by the Indian Parliament.
• President uses his absolute veto in the following two cases:
  • When the bill passed by the Parliament is a Private Member Bill
  • When the cabinet resigns before President could give his assent to the bill. 

• In 1954, this veto was exercised by Dr. Rajendra Prasad
• In 1991, this veto was used by the then President R Venkataraman

 

Suspensive Veto

• President uses his suspensive veto when he returns the bill to the Indian Parliament for its reconsideration.
  • If the Parliament resend the bill with or without amendment to the Indian President, he has to approve the bill without using any of his veto powers. Thus his suspensive veto can be over-ridden by the Parliament. 

• • With respect to state bills, state legislature has no power to override the suspensive veto of President. Governor can withhold the bill for the President’s consideration and even if state legislature resends the bill to governor and governor to President, he still can withhold his assent.
• When the Parliament resends the bill to the President, it has to follow only the ordinary majority in the houses and not the higher majority.
  
  
• Suspensive veto can’t be applied on Money Bill.

 

Pocket Veto

• The bill is kept pending by the President for an indefinite period when he exercises his pocket veto.
• He neither rejects the bill nor returns the bill for reconsideration.
• Since no time-limit for the President within which he has to act upon the bill, is specified in the Constitution of India.

President does not have any veto power with regard to the Constitutional Amendment Bills.

 

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