Separation of Powers Law and Practice in India

Abstract

The doctrine of Separation of Powers emphasizes the mutual exclusiveness of the three organs of government, viz., legislature, executive and judiciary. The main underlying idea is that each of these organs should exercise only one type of function. ‘Separation of Powers’ is a fundamental principle whereby powers and responsibilities are divided among the legislative branch, executive branch, and judicial branch. The officials of each branch are selected by different procedures and serve different terms of office; each branch may choose to block action of the other branches through the system of checks and balances. The framers of the Constitution designed this system to ensure that no one branch would accumulate too much power and that issues of public policy and welfare would be given comprehensive consideration before any action was taken. The present Article is an attempt to analyse the scheme of Separation of Powers as envisaged under the Indian Constitution and the difficulties faced by the three wings of the government in practice while implementing the provisions of the Constitution in letter and spirit.