The Common Law in India - College of Social Sciences and ...

The Indian Constitution 173the general and regional governments and for themanner in which the general and the regional governmentswere to function.The British influence on the Indian Constitution isnot restricted to its being based upon the frameworkof the Act of 1985. It is far deeper and more extensive.The Indian Constitution has drawn freelyupon basic principles of English constitutional law.It incorporates the principles of responsible governmenton the model of the British Cabinet system.We also find in it a constitutional head, the President,whose functions bear a close comparison to those ofthe King in England.BROAD FEATURESExamining the interrelation of the executive andlegislative powers in the Indian Constitution theSupreme Court of India stated that " Our Constitution,though federal in its structure, is modelled onthe British parliamentary system where the executiveis deemed to have the primary responsibility for theformulation of governmental policy and its transmissioninto law, though the condition precedent to theexercise of this responsibility is its retaining theconfidence of the legislative branch of the state. . . .In the Indian Constitution, therefore, we have thesame system of parliamentary executive as in Englandand the Council of Ministers consisting, as it does, ofthe members of the legislature is, like the BritishCabinet, ' a hyphen which joins, a buckle which