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THE CONSTITUTION, MADE UNDERSTANDABLE

Article 74
Council of Ministers to aid and advise President

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26 Parts12 Schedules506 indexed article entries, including historical omissions
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Source edition: as on 1 May 2026. Omitted and struck-down reference entries remain labelled. Open the authoritative PDF ↗

Article 74 / Part V

Council of Ministers to aid and advise President

included in edition
THE PLAIN-LANGUAGE GUIDE

What does this mean?

A Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister aids and advises the President. The President can require reconsideration once, but must act on the reconsidered advice under the text.

The Union's President, ministers, Parliament, Supreme Court and Comptroller and Auditor-General.

IN EVERYDAY LIFE · ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE

A presidential decision should be understood within the Council of Ministers' advice and the one-reconsideration mechanism.

PURPOSE & CONTEXT

Why is this provision here?

It places executive decision-making within the responsible parliamentary-ministry system while permitting the stated reconsideration step.

Historical evidence

This Article number belongs to the original constitutional framework, but its present wording may include later amendments or substitutions. A provision-specific original Assembly debate has not been verified here. The explanation of function above is editorial inference from the text, not an attributed single motive of the framers. The original draft-making archive is a research resource, not proof of a particular historical reason. The later amendment records linked below document changes affecting this Article; their Bill statements explain those proposals, not necessarily every original clause or the complete present legal outcome.

The explanation of purpose is an editorial reading of the provision. A drafting motive is attributed only where a linked historical source supports it.

Limits, exceptions & reading carefully

Educational summary of the linked source text. Exceptions, provisos, implementing laws and applicable judgments must be read before applying it to a real case.

Read the official constitutional text
74. Council of Ministers to aid and advise President.—[(1) There shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President who shall, in the exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice:] [Provided that the President may require the Council of Ministers to reconsider such advice, either generally or otherwise, and the President shall act in accordance with the advice tendered after such reconsideration.] (2) The question whether any, and if so what, advice was tendered by Ministers to the President shall not be inquired into in any court.
Source-page notes · may concern neighbouring Articles

1. Subs. by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976, s.13, for cl. (1) (w.e.f. 3-1-1977).

2. Ins. by the Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978, s. 11 (w.e.f. 20-6-1979).

Extracted from the Legislative Department’s May 2026 edition. Page footnotes may refer to neighbouring provisions; check their markers in the PDF. Inclusion in this edition does not by itself establish commencement or judicial effect.