Inter-relationships between Executive Legislature and Judiciary

Inter-relationship between Legislature, executive and Judiciary 

Relationship between Legislature and Judiciary

Even though the functions of the executive and the judiciary are well-defined in the Constitution, the system of checks and balances ensures that each one can impose checks on the other.

✓The judiciary can strike down laws that it considers unconstitutional or arbitrary.

✓The legislature, on its part, has protested against judicial activism and tried to frame laws to circumvent certain judgements.

✓Judicial activism is said to be against the principle of separation of powers.

✓There have been instances where the courts have issued laws and policies through judgements.

✓If the judiciary oversteps its mandate and crosses over into the territory of the legislature or the executive, it is called judicial overreach.

Relationship between Legislature and Executive

The Constitution states that the executive branch of the State (Council of Ministers) shall be collectively responsible to the Legislature (Lok Sabha). This implies that the Parliament should supervise the work of the government and hold it accountable for its actions.

✓In a parliamentary form of government, the executive is not separated from the legislature in that the members of the council of ministers are members of the legislature.

✓The executive loses power when it loses the confidence of the legislature.

✓The executive/council of ministers is dismissed if it loses the legislature’s confidence before its tenure is over. 

✓So, the legislature controls the executive through a vote of no-confidence.

✓The head of government and head of state are different.

✓The head of the government is the Prime Minister while the head of state is the President.

✓The parliament makes laws in general broad terms and delegates the powers to the executive to formulate detailed policy and implement them.

✓In a presidential form of government, the executive is not accountable to the legislature. 

✓One person is the heads of both the State as well as the government. A minister need not be from the legislature.

Relationship between Executive and Judiciary

There are several provisions in the Constitution that make the judiciary independent. This is because, it is believed that for a democracy to remain efficient and effective, the judiciary must be independent. 

✓The judiciary is said to be the guardian of the constitution. 

✓If the executive also assumes judicial powers, that sort of a government tends to become oppressive.

✓However, there are some judicial functions which are performed by the executive as well. They are:

✓The appointments of the judges are made by the executive.

✓The President and the Governors also enjoy the power to pardon, reprieve, etc. 

✓These are direct judicial functions.

Under the system of administrative adjudication, the executive agencies have the power to hear and decide cases involving particular fields of administrative activity