Duties of PM to Furnish Information to the President (Article 78)

Article 78 places a specific communication duty on the Prime Minister — the constitutional channel through which the PM furnish information to the President about the working of the Union government. It is a short but important provision, because it is what allows a nominal head of state to stay informed about a government he does not directly run.

Text and structure of the duty

Article 78 lists three distinct duties of the Prime Minister vis-à-vis the President:

(a) Communicating Council of Ministers' decisions. The Prime Minister must communicate to the President all decisions of the Council of Ministers relating to the administration of the affairs of the Union, and all proposals for legislation.

(b) Furnishing information the President calls for. The Prime Minister must furnish such information relating to the administration of Union affairs and legislative proposals as the President may specifically call for.

(c) Referring unconsidered matters back to the Council. If the President so requires, the Prime Minister must submit for the Council of Ministers' consideration any matter on which a decision has been taken by an individual minister but which has not yet been considered by the Council as a whole.

Why Article 78 exists

Under Article 74, the President must act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, and cannot independently interfere in day-to-day administration. But the President still holds important constitutional functions — for instance, giving assent to bills, addressing Parliament, or exercising the pardoning power — for which being informed of government decisions and legislative plans is necessary. Article 78 is the mechanism that keeps the President in the loop without granting any power to overrule the Council of Ministers.

Clause (c) is particularly significant: it prevents an individual minister from taking a decision on an important matter and keeping it away from full Cabinet scrutiny. If the President learns of such a decision and considers it significant, the President can direct the Prime Minister to place it before the Council of Ministers for collective consideration — reinforcing collective responsibility even indirectly through the Article 78 channel.

Not a power to withhold assent or delay

Article 78 obliges the Prime Minister to inform the President; it does not, by itself, give the President a veto or a general power to demand reconsideration of Cabinet decisions the way Article 74(1) permits for advice specifically tendered to the President. The duty here is one of information and communication, not one of substantive control over policy.

Clause	Duty of the Prime Minister
Art. 78(a)	Communicate all Council of Ministers' decisions on Union administration and legislative proposals
Art. 78(b)	Furnish information the President specifically calls for
Art. 78(c)	On President's requirement, place an individual minister's undecided matter before the full Council

UPSC Relevance

Prelims: Article 78 has exactly three clauses (a), (b), (c) — a common factual point tested; do not confuse it with Article 74 (advice binding on President) or Article 167 (state-level equivalent, duty of Chief Minister to the Governor).

Mains: Article 78 is useful in essays on how the Indian President, despite being a nominal executive, remains a well-informed constitutional check through information channels, and on the relationship between individual ministerial decisions and collective Cabinet responsibility.

FAQ

Q1. What is the main duty imposed by Article 78? The Prime Minister must communicate Council of Ministers' decisions and legislative proposals to the President, and furnish further information the President calls for.

Q2. Can the President compel the Council of Ministers to reconsider a decision under Article 78? Article 78 itself only creates a duty to inform; the President's power to require reconsideration of advice specifically tendered to him is under Article 74(1), not Article 78.

Q3. What does Article 78(c) deal with? It allows the President to require that a decision taken by an individual minister — but not yet considered by the full Council of Ministers — be placed before the Council.

Q4. Is there a state-level equivalent of Article 78? Yes, Article 167 imposes a similar duty on the Chief Minister to furnish information to the Governor.

Q5. Does Article 78 apply to all government decisions or only major administrative and legislative ones? It applies to decisions of the Council of Ministers relating to the administration of Union affairs and to proposals for legislation, plus any information the President specifically calls for.

Quick Revision

• Article 78(a): PM communicates Council of Ministers' decisions and legislative proposals to President.
• Article 78(b): PM furnishes information the President calls for.
• Article 78(c): President can require an individual minister's undecided matter to go before the full Council.
• Article 78 is an information duty, not a veto power for the President.
• State-level parallel: Article 167 (Chief Minister's duty to the Governor).

Sources

• The Constitution of India, Ministry of Law and Justice, Legislative Department — Article 78: https://legislative.gov.in/constitution-of-india/

Further Reference

For deeper reading on this topic and the wider polity syllabus, these standard works are recommended:

• M. Laxmikanth, Indian Polity (McGraw Hill) — the standard UPSC handbook.
• D.D. Basu, Introduction to the Constitution of India (LexisNexis) — authoritative constitutional-law treatment.
• The Constitution of India — Bare Act — the official text.

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