The Prime Minister occupies a unique position of power and prestige. His powers and functions are:
1. He prepares the list of the council of ministers. The president cannot drop any name from this list;
2. The Prime Minister distributes the work to the different ministers;
3. He can dismiss an erring minister;
4. He presides over the meetings of the Cabinet;
5. He supervises and co-ordinates the working of various departments;
6. He is the main spokesman of the ministry;
7. He is a link between the council of ministers and the President.
8. He advises the President on the issue of making appointments;
9. He advises the President to dissolve the Lok Sabha; and
10. He plays a leading role in making all policy statements as also the preparation of the annual budget.The Prime Minister occupies a unique position of power and prestige. His powers and functions are:
1. He prepares the list of the council of ministers. The president cannot drop any name from this list;
2. The Prime Minister distributes the work to the different ministers;
3. He can dismiss an erring minister;
4. He presides over the meetings of the Cabinet;
5. He supervises and co-ordinates the working of various departments;
6. He is the main spokesman of the ministry;
7. He is a link between the council of ministers and the President.
8. He advises the President on the issue of making appointments;
9. He advises the President to dissolve the Lok Sabha; and
10. He plays a leading role in making all policy statements as also the preparation of the annual budget.
There areseven important functions of the Prime Minister of India these are : 1. Formation of Ministry, 2. Distribution of Portfolios, 3. Chairman of the Cabinet Committee, 4. Chief Co-ordinator of Policies, 5. Sole Adviser to the President, 6. Leader of the Nation, 7. Position of the Prime Minister.
(1) Formation of the Ministry :The Prime Minister forms the Ministry. With the appointment of the Prime Minister, the essential task of the President is over, for it is left to the Prime Minister to select his Ministers and present a list to the President. The President has no other alternative but to appoint the Ministers as recommended by the Prime Minister.
It is correctly said that the Prime Minister "is central to its (Ministry's) formation, central to its life and central to its death". The Prime Minister has the privilege to select his Cabinet colleagues. If the Prime Minister resigns, it means the resignation of the whole Ministry. When the Prime Minister dies, the Council of Ministers will automatically cease to exist. The Prime Minister may remove the members of Council of Ministers at any time by demanding the Ministers' resignation or getting them dismissed, by the President.
(2) Distribution of Portfolios:Distribution of portfolios is another important task of the Prime Minister. He has a free hand in assigning various departments to his colleagues. It is for him to determine the size of the Cabinet and the Ministers to be included in it. He may even select ministers outside the rank if he feels that a person is fit for a job. While distributing portfolios he is to look that important members of the party do get important portfolios. In a federal State like India be is to see that Ministers are selected from all parts of the country.
Further, there might be some aspirants for a few important portfolios like Home, Defence or Finance. He has to bring amity and satisfy all in distributing the portfolios. His work is indeed a difficult one. As Lowell points out. "His work is like that of constructing a figure out of blocks which are too numerous for the purpose and which are not of shapes fit perfectly together".
(3) Chairman of the Cabinet Committee:The Prime Minister is the Chairman of the Cabinet Committee. He convenes and presides over all the meetings of the Cabinet. He is to fix the agenda of such meetings. The Ministers are individually responsible to him for the good administration of their respective departments. The Prime Minister may warn advice or encourage them in discharge of their functions. He is the head of the Council of Ministers. He acts as the Chairman of various standing and ad-hoc Committees of the Cabinet.
(4) Chief Co-ordinator of Policies:The Prime Minister is the chief co-ordinator of the policies of several Departments. In case of conflicts between two departments, he acts as the mediator. He irons out quarrels among various Ministers and departments. He keeps an eye on the working of all Departments of the Government of India. He can ask for any file from any Ministry for his perusal.
In case of appointment of Governors and other high federal officers, the voice of the Prime Minister counts and not that of the other Ministers. He is always vigilant regarding the working of the important departments like the Finance, the Foreign Affairs and Home. He also keeps close touch with foreign ambassadors and represents the Union Government at the Conferences of Heads of Foreign Governments.
(5) Sole Adviser to the President:The Prime Minister is the sole adviser to the President. The right to advice for dissolution of the Lok Sabha rests with Prime Minister. The President is expected to accept the advice of the Prime Minister and not that of other Ministers.
The Prime Minister is the only channel of communication between the President and the Cabinet. He informs the President all the decisions taken in the Cabinet. If the President does not accept the advice of the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister may resign. The resignation of the Prime minister will create difficulty for the President to find out an alternative Ministry. As long as the Prime Minister enjoys the confidence of the majority members of the Lok Sabha it is difficult for the President to dismiss him.
(6) Leader of the Nation:The Prime Minister is the leader of the nation. He is the chief spokesman of the Governmental policies in the Parliament. All important policy announcements are made by him in the Parliament. He is the leader of the majority party and as such he usually becomes the leader of the House.
The British convention is that the Prime Minister should belong to the House of Commons. Such a convention is expected to develop in India whereby the Prime Minister will belong to the Lok Sabha which is the popular House in India. Personality and prestige of the Prime Minister helps the party to get more votes during the time of election. The General Election is in reality the election of the Prime Minister. In India, the choice of the First Prime Minister fell on Jawaharlal Nehru who brought absolute majority to his party in the Centre and the States in the First General Elections of India.
(7) Position of the Prime Minister:The Constitution of India, as already pointed out, does not describe the office of the Prime Minister in detail. It is, therefore, difficult to State what is the exact position of the Prime Minister. The general accepted theory is that the Prime Minister is just like "primus inter pares" or "first among equals". This is the phrase, which is used to describe the office of the Prime Minister ship in a parliamentary system.
The Prime Minister is the captain of the Cabinet team. Just like a game cannot be played by the captain alone, the game of politics likewise cannot be played by the Prime Minister alone. He is to take the support of his Cabinet colleagues and thus among the Cabinet colleagues the Prime Minister is first among equals.
However, this phrase is too modest to describe a great office of a parliamentary system. To quote Ramsay Muir, a leading constitutional authority of England, "the phrase primus inter-pares is nonsense as applied to a potentate who appoints and can dismiss his colleagues. He (Prime Minister) is in fact, though not in law, the working head of the State, endowed with such a plenitude of power as no other constitutional ruler possesses, not even the President of the United States".