Context

• The Union Council of Ministers (COM) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi sworn in recently. 

Who constitutes the Council of Ministers? 

• India is a parliamentary democracy with the President as its nominal head. 
• Article 74 of the Constitution provides that there shall be a COM headed by the Prime Minister (PM) to aid and advise the President. The real executive powers lie with the COM. 
• A Minister should be a member of either the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha and if not, should become one within six months of his/her appointment. A similar setup prevails in States with a COM headed by the Chief Minister (CM). 
• The COM consists of Cabinet ministers, Ministers of State (MoS) with independent charge, MoS and Deputy Ministers. The Constitution does not classify the members of the COM into different ranks. All this has been done informally, following British practice. 
  • Cabinet Ministers are higher in rank and handle large portfolios while MoS assist the Cabinet Ministers and work under them. MoS with independent charge directly reports to the Prime Minister for their respective ministries. 

What is the constitutional limit? 

• The first COM at the time of independence had only 15 Ministers headed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Over the years, the size of the COM had gradually increased to around 50-60. 
• The National Commission to review the working of the Constitution under the Chairmanship of Justice Venkatachaliah set up in 2000, had suggested a ceiling of 10% of the total strength of Lok Sabha/Legislative Assembly for the number of Ministers at the Centre/State level. 
• Through the 91st Constitutional amendment in 2003, the total number of Ministers including PM/CM in the COM was limited to 15% of the total strength of the Lok Sabha/State Legislative Assembly. 
• There is no minimum requirement at the Central level whereas even the smaller States should have a minimum of 12 Ministers. 
  • For Union Territories of NCT of Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), the maximum limit is 10% of the total strength of its Assembly.