Q.PM wants President's rule imposed for Dalit-atrocity failure; President resists. What courses are open to the President (5 options: refuse to sign / dismiss PM / ask for CRPF / press statement / discuss and try to dissuade but sign if PM insists)?
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →Of the five options, (e) — the President discusses the matter with the Prime Minister and genuinely tries to persuade him not to proceed, but ultimately signs the order if the Prime Minister insists — is the course of action that is actually consistent with the President's constitutional position, as this chapter explains it. Options (b), (c), and (d) go beyond what the Constitution permits the President to do; option (a), refusing outright to sign, is only defensible as a first step (asking for reconsideration), not as a final refusal.
Let's work through why, using the chapter's own account of the President's discretionary powers. Article 74(1) makes the Council of Ministers' advice binding on the President — the President 'shall act in accordance with such advice.' The one piece of genuine discretion the President has here is the power to send the advice back once, asking the Council (in this case, effectively the Prime Minister) to reconsider — perhaps because the President believes imposing President's Rule too readily, for a situation the Constitution says should be used only sparingly, has flaws or isn't in the country's best interest. This maps to option (e)'s 'discuss the matter... and try to dissuade him.' But the chapter is explicit that if, after such reconsideration, the same advice is sent back, the President is then bound to act on it. So option (e)'s final step — signing 'if he insists' — is exactly what the Constitution requires once reconsideration has been tried and the Prime Minister still insists.
Option (a), refusing outright to sign and never reconsidering the position, would mean the President is substituting personal judgment for the Council's advice permanently — which goes beyond the limited, one-time reconsideration power the Constitution actually grants; a President can delay and ask for reconsideration, but cannot simply refuse forever once the government insists.
Option (b), dismissing the Prime Minister, is far outside the President's powers as described anywhere in this chapter — the President has no power to dismiss a Prime Minister who commands the confidence of the Lok Sabha; that would contradict the entire logic of a parliamentary executive, where the PM's tenure depends on legislative confidence, not presidential approval. …
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