Indian Polity Mixed Quiz: Set 54

The correct answer is B, the Public Accounts Committee. An excess grant is asked for when money has actually been spent on a service during a financial year in excess of the amount granted for it; the demand is made after the year is over, and by convention the Public Accounts Committee first examines the excess and recommends its regularisation before the Lok Sabha votes it. A is wrong because the Estimates Committee looks forward, suggesting economies in the estimates, and does not regularise past overspending. C is wrong because the Committee on Public Undertakings confines itself to the reports and accounts of public sector undertakings. D is wrong because the Business Advisory Committee only allots time for government business in the House and has no financial examination role at all.

The correct answer is A, three years. The Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Act, 2019 reduced the term of the Chairperson and the members of the Commission from five years to three years, or until they attain the age of seventy, whichever is earlier, and it also made them eligible for reappointment. Option C, five years, was the correct answer before the 2019 amendment and is the commonest trap in this question, because older notes still carry that figure. Options B and D, four and six years, have never been the term of this office; six years is associated with other posts such as a Rajya Sabha member's term, and four years with none of the rights commissions. Remember the pair: three years for the office, seventy as the age ceiling for the Chairperson.

The correct answer is B, one year. The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 bars the Commission from inquiring into any matter after the expiry of one year from the date on which the act constituting the violation of human rights is alleged to have been committed. Option A, six months, is the limit students wrongly carry over from service rules and departmental appeals. Options C and D, two and three years, are longer than the statute allows; three years is the ordinary period of limitation for a civil suit under the Limitation Act, 1963, which is a different idea altogether. Pair this one-year bar with the Commission's other two limits that examiners like: its findings are only recommendations, and on the armed forces it may do no more than seek a report from the Central Government.

The correct answer is C, the salary and allowances of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is paid like other ministers out of the voted expenditure, so the amount appears in a demand for grant that the Lok Sabha can reduce or refuse; it is not charged expenditure. A is wrong because Article 112(3) expressly charges the salaries, allowances and pensions of judges of the Supreme Court on the Consolidated Fund, so that the judiciary is not dependent on an annual vote. B is wrong because debt charges, including interest, sinking fund charges and the cost of raising and servicing loans, are charged expenditure, since the nation's credit cannot be put to a yearly vote. D is wrong because the salary, allowances and pension of the Comptroller and Auditor General are charged on the Fund, a safeguard of the independence of the auditor who examines the government's own accounts.

The correct answer is A. The Speaker, in consultation with the Leader of the House, fixes the number of days available for the demands for grants, and on the last of those days all the demands still pending are put to the vote together, discussed or not. That closure by the clock is called the guillotine, and in practice a large part of the Budget is passed this way. B is wrong because a return for reconsideration under Article 111 applies to an ordinary bill and is never called the guillotine. C is wrong because an early dissolution of the Lok Sabha is ordered by the President on the advice of the Council of Ministers and is a wholly different matter. D is wrong because the suspension of a member is a disciplinary step taken by the Chair under the rules of procedure, not a device for disposing of financial business.

The correct answer is B, Article 108. Article 108 allows the President to summon a joint sitting of the two Houses when the other House has rejected the Bill, when the Houses have finally disagreed on the amendments to be made, or when more than six months have passed without the other House passing it. A, Article 107, is wrong because it only states the general provisions for the introduction and passing of ordinary Bills in either House. C, Article 111, is wrong because it deals with the assent of the President after both Houses have passed a Bill, giving the President the power to assent, withhold assent, or return an ordinary Bill for reconsideration. D, Article 123, is wrong because it empowers the President to promulgate an ordinance when Parliament is not in session, which is a law-making power outside the ordinary legislative procedure.

The correct answer is B. Section 19 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 carves out a special procedure for the armed forces: the Commission may either not proceed with the complaint or seek a report from the Central Government, and after receiving that report it may make its recommendations; the Government must inform the Commission of the action taken within three months. Option A is wrong because the Commission's own investigation staff, which it may use in ordinary complaints, is not available to it against the armed forces. Option C is wrong because the Commission has no power to punish anyone, in the armed forces or outside; it recommends prosecution or compensation, and courts impose punishment. Option D is wrong because no provision of the Act lets the Commission reopen the proceedings of a court martial.

The correct answer is C, 20. The rules permit a maximum of twenty starred questions to be listed for oral answer in the Lok Sabha on any one day, and the ballot decides which members' questions get a place. B, 15, is wrong for the Lok Sabha, though it is the corresponding limit in the Rajya Sabha, which makes it the commonest trap in this question. D, 230, is wrong because that is the maximum number of unstarred questions, answered in writing, that may be listed in the Lok Sabha in a day; the Rajya Sabha limit for unstarred questions is one hundred and sixty. A, 10, is wrong as a limit, but ten clear days is the ordinary notice period for a question, and candidates often confuse the notice period with the daily ceiling.

The correct answer is B, Article 265. It states in a single sentence that no tax shall be levied or collected except by authority of law, which is why every tax proposal in the Budget has to be enacted through the Finance Bill before the money can be demanded from the citizen. A is wrong because Article 245 deals with the extent of the laws made by Parliament and by the state legislatures, that is, the territorial reach of legislation. C is wrong because Article 280 provides for the Finance Commission, which recommends the distribution of tax proceeds between the Union and the states. D is wrong because Article 300A says no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law, a right to property provision inserted by the Forty-fourth Amendment and often confused with the taxation Article.

The correct answer is B, Mandal Commission. The Second Backward Classes Commission, headed by B. P. Mandal, recommended 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes in central government services and public undertakings. It was appointed in 1979 and submitted its report in 1980, listed 3,743 castes as backward and put the share of the OBCs in the population at about 52 per cent. The quota was fixed at 27 per cent so that total reservation would stay within the 50 per cent ceiling the courts had indicated. The recommendation was put into effect in 1990, and the Supreme Court upheld it in the Indra Sawhney case of 1992. A is wrong because the Sarkaria Commission of 1983 examined Centre-State relations. C is wrong because the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee of 1957 suggested the three-tier panchayati raj system. D is wrong because the Kothari Commission of 1964-66 dealt with education. Exam tip: Mandal Commission 1979, report 1980, 27 per cent OBC quota, upheld in Indra Sawhney 1992.

The correct answer is C, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, which stands on Article 338 of the Constitution; its companion bodies for Scheduled Tribes and for Backward Classes stand on Articles 338A and 338B, the last inserted by the One Hundred and Second Amendment in 2018. Option A is wrong because the National Commission for Women was set up under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990. Option B is wrong because the National Commission for Minorities was set up under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, its predecessor having been created by a government resolution in 1978. Option D is wrong because the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights was set up under the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005. Only the three commissions for SCs, STs and Backward Classes are constitutional.

The correct answer is A, John Mathai. The Estimates Committee was set up in 1950 on the suggestion of John Mathai, who was then the Union Finance Minister, and it consists of thirty members, all elected from the Lok Sabha; the Rajya Sabha has no representation on it. Its chairperson is appointed by the Speaker, a minister cannot be a member, and its function is to examine the Budget estimates, suggest economies and propose alternative forms of presenting the estimates, which is why it is called the continuous economy committee. Option B is wrong because the Krishna Menon Committee recommended the Committee on Public Undertakings, which was constituted in 1964. Option C is wrong because G. V. Mavalankar was the first Speaker of the Lok Sabha and is called the Father of the Lok Sabha, but the Estimates Committee is not named to his recommendation. Option D is wrong because C. D. Deshmukh, though a Finance Minister and earlier a Governor of the Reserve Bank, is not associated with the creation of this committee.

The correct answer is B, 22 members. The Public Accounts Committee consists of twenty-two members, fifteen elected by the Lok Sabha and seven by the Rajya Sabha, all by proportional representation through the single transferable vote, and its chairman is appointed by the Speaker; by a convention followed since 1967 the chairman is from the opposition. A is wrong because fifteen is only the Lok Sabha share of the committee. C is wrong because thirty is the strength of the Estimates Committee, whose members are all drawn from the Lok Sabha and none from the Rajya Sabha. D is wrong because thirty-one is the strength of each departmentally related standing committee, made up of twenty-one members of the Lok Sabha and ten of the Rajya Sabha.

The correct answer is C, Article 222, which empowers the President to transfer a judge from one High Court to any other High Court after consultation with the Chief Justice of India; by the collegium practice laid down in the Third Judges Case, the Chief Justice forms that opinion with four senior-most colleagues and the Chief Justices of the two High Courts concerned. Option A is wrong because Article 219 deals with the oath or affirmation taken by a judge of a High Court. Option B is wrong because Article 221 deals with the salaries and allowances of High Court judges, which are charged on the Consolidated Fund of the State. Option D is wrong because Article 224 provides for additional and acting judges of a High Court, and Article 224A for retired judges sitting at a High Court.

The correct answer is C, 2005, the year of the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, under which the national commission began work in 2007 and the State commissions were later set up. Option A, 1992, is the year of the National Commission for Minorities Act and also of the Constitutional amendments on panchayats and municipalities, so it is a crowded year and a tempting wrong answer. Option B, 2000, is the year of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act that preceded the present 2015 law, not of the commission. Option D, 2009, is the year of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, whose implementation this very commission monitors, which is exactly why the year is offered as a distractor. The commission also monitors the POCSO Act, 2012.

The correct answer is D, Puducherry. Puducherry is a Union Territory with a legislature of its own, which is why it is said to have partial statehood. Article 239A, added in 1962, allowed Parliament to create a legislature and a council of ministers for such a territory, and the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963 gave Puducherry an Assembly and a Chief Minister, while an administrator styled Lieutenant Governor still represents the President. Delhi has a similar arrangement under Article 239AA, and Jammu and Kashmir became a Union Territory with a legislature in 2019. A is wrong because Chandigarh is administered directly, with the Governor of Punjab acting as its administrator. B and C are wrong because Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, merged into a single Union Territory in 2020, have no legislature and are run by an administrator. Exam tip: the Union Territories with legislatures are Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir.

The correct answer is C, 2014, when the Jain community was notified as a minority, joining Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis and taking the notified list to six communities. Option A, 1993, is the year the National Commission for Minorities was actually set up under the 1992 Act, and also the year of the National Human Rights Commission, so it attracts guesses. Option B, 2006, is the year the Ministry of Minority Affairs was created as a separate ministry, a related but different fact. Option D, 2019, is the year of the amendment to the Protection of Human Rights Act that changed the NHRC's composition and term, not of any change in the minority list. For the examination, remember the figure six and the order in which the communities were notified.

The correct answer is A, Land transfers. The Fifth Schedule lets the Governor make regulations for the peace and good government of a Scheduled Area, and it names three matters such a regulation may cover: it may prohibit or restrict the transfer of land by or among members of the Scheduled Tribes, regulate the allotment of land to them, and regulate money-lending to them. The purpose is to stop outsiders from buying up tribal land, so land alienation is the heart of the provision. A regulation of this kind needs the assent of the President, and the Governor must also report to the President every year on the administration of these areas, advised by a Tribes Advisory Council. Option B is wrong because taxation is settled by Parliament and the state legislature, not by such a regulation. Option C is wrong because freedom of speech is a fundamental right no Governor's regulation can curtail. Option D is wrong because water use is not one of the three listed matters. Exam tip: Fifth Schedule regulations cover land transfer, land allotment and money-lending.

The correct answer is B, the Supreme Court. On a ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity the President must refer the matter to the Supreme Court, and the Chairperson or member can be removed only if the Court, after an inquiry held in accordance with its own procedure, reports that the ground is made out. Option A is wrong because no address by Parliament is needed; that procedure belongs to the removal of a judge of the Supreme Court or a High Court. Option C is wrong because the Central Vigilance Commission inquires into corruption among public servants and has no role here. Option D is wrong because the Council of Ministers cannot sit in judgement over a body meant to be independent of the executive. The same protection is given to the Chairperson of a State Human Rights Commission.

The correct answer is B, the two International Covenants of 1966, namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Section 2(1)(d) of the Act defines human rights as rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed by the Constitution or embodied in these covenants and enforceable by courts in India. Option A is wrong because the Geneva Conventions of 1949 are the law of armed conflict and the treatment of the wounded, prisoners and civilians in war. Option C is wrong because the Rome Statute of 1998 created the International Criminal Court, which India has not joined. Option D is wrong because the Vienna Convention of 1961 governs diplomatic relations and immunities, a wholly different subject.