Responsibilities of the Cabinet The Responsibilities of the Cabinet can be grouped into 5:
Policy formation, full control over the executive bureaucracy, ensuring cooperation among the departments and deciding their limits, economic control and control in appointments.
The Cabinet decides the common administrative policy of the Indian Union. It discusses all national and international problems and takes decisions on them. Ministers give leadership to the working of different departments. When they carry out their responsibilities, they ensure that they follow the instructions of the cabinet. The Cabinet controls the working of the executive bureaucracy. It is the cabinet that brings unity among the departments and solves any conflict that might arise among them. The Cabinet also decides how much money is to be spent by the Nation and how to find that money through revenue collection. The Cabinet prepares and budget and presents it for the Parliament’s approval. Cabinet decides what the new projects are to be undertaken and what new taxes are to be levied. It is true that the Parliamentary approval is necessary for all this.
Cabinet makes the most important appointments of the Indian Union. It also decides how many times Parliament Meetings have to be called and what should their agenda! be. It takes the initiative in law-making. It presents Bills in both Houses of the Parliament and gets them passed. Without the support of the Cabinet, the Bills presented by private members will be rejected. Thus Cabinet has a big role to play in Parliamentary Democracy.
Prime Minister: In the Cabinet administrative system, the PM has a big role. The Indian PM has the same status as the British PM. The PM is the first among equals. In Latin, they say ‘primus inter pares’. But the other Ministers are not his subordinates. According to Sir Ivor Jennings, the PM is like the solar system where all the other planets go round the sun. Morley says the PM is the foundation of the Cabinet Arch. Prof. Lasky says that the PM holds the arch up or makes it fall. The PM has many responsibilities. His area of jurisdiction is also great. Constitutionally, the President appoints the PM.. But the President has no choice here. It is simply a mechanical act. The President is obliged to appoint the leader of the Party which has the majority or highest number of seats in the Lok Sabha. But if no party has a clear majority, the President may invite the leader of any Party whom he thinks can form the Cabinet. The President appoints other Ministers on the recommendations of the PM.
Although the PM is free in the appointment of the Cabinet, he will have to take into consideration many things. He will have to give deserving representation to various States, religious communities, minorities, economic interests, political groups and so on. But he has also to consider competence and consensus. The PM can demand the resignation of any Minister at any time. If a Minister refuses to resign, the PM can ask the President to remove him. The precedent is that if a Minister does not agree with any Policy matter, he should resign. People like Shanmukham Shetty, Dr. John Mathai, Shyamaprasad Mukherjee and V.V. Giri, etc. had resigned their posts as ministers.
The PM can shuffle the departments of the Ministers. When a PM resigns, the entire Cabinet resigns with him. Differences among the ministers and departments are solved by the PM. He supervises all departments. He decides the agenda of the Cabinet. He presides over Cabinet meetings. He is the link between the President and the Cabinet. It is through the PM the President gets to know what the government is doing. The secretariat of the PM helps him in doing his work.
The PM has four different positions. He is the leader of his party in the Parliament. By that, he controls the members of his party. Secondly, he is the leader of the Lok Sabha. It is he who represents the Lok Sabha and talks for it. Thirdly, he is the head of the cabinet. That way he is the person with the highest powers in the country. Fourthly he is the link between the President and the Cabinet. He has responsibility towards his party, Parliament and the Nation. He coordinates the work of different departments. In fact, a national election is the election of a PM. As the leader of the nation, the PM is looked upon with respect. Sir Ivor Jennings feels that the status of the PM depends on the person who occupies the position, his competence and his efforts and the leverage the other Ministers allow him. Charismatic leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru might overshadow other Ministers. If the PM is not competent enough, the Cabinet will be under the control of his colleagues and the Party.
