Question

Explain the term ‘Balance of Power’.

Answer 1

Concept:

• A term is best explained by showing the situation it prevents, because that makes its purpose clear.
• Balance of power exists to prevent one organ of government from dominating the rest.

Step 1: Picture what would happen without it.
If one organ held every power, it could make a law, carry it out and judge any dispute about it. There would be nobody left to correct a mistake or to stop a misuse.

Step 2: See how the arrangement avoids that.
Power is spread horizontally among the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, three organs at the same level with different powers. None of them can act beyond its own sphere.

Step 3: See how each organ restrains the others.
Ministers and officials exercise power but are responsible to Parliament or the State Assemblies, and judges, though appointed by the executive, can check the functioning of the executive and the laws made by the legislature.

Step 4: Name the result.
This mutual restraint is what the source calls a balance of power, and the whole arrangement is described as a system of checks and balances.

Final Answer: Balance of power is the state in which the three organs of government hold separate powers and restrain one another, so that none of them becomes strong enough to act without limit.

Answer 2

Concept:

• Independence is judged not by how someone is appointed but by whether that person can decide freely afterwards.
• The source draws exactly this distinction.

Step 1: Separate appointment from function.
Appointment is a single event and takes place through the executive. The functioning of a judge continues for years afterwards and is governed by the Constitution and the law.
Independence belongs to the second of these, not the first.

Step 2: Look at what the judiciary is empowered to do.
It can check the functioning of the executive and can examine the laws made by the legislature. A court that can overturn a government order or strike down a statute is plainly not under the control of either.

Step 3: Place it within the wider arrangement.
This is one half of the system of checks and balances described in the source. Ministers and officials are answerable to Parliament and the State Assemblies, and both the executive and the legislature are answerable to the courts on questions of law.

Step 4: State the conclusion.
Because the courts can restrain the very authorities that appointed the judges, the judiciary counts as an independent organ of government.

Final Answer: Its independence lies in what it can do after appointment. The judiciary can check the executive and review the laws made by the legislature, which means it decides by the law rather than at the direction of the government.

Answer 3

Concept:

• Sharing power among organs works only if two conditions are met, that the functions are separated and that each organ can restrain the others.
• Taking the two conditions in turn makes the arrangement clear.

Step 1: The first condition, separate functions.
The legislature makes the laws, the executive carries them out, and the judiciary interprets them and settles disputes. Three different bodies, three different tasks, none of them placed above another.
The source calls this a horizontal distribution of power.

Step 2: Why separation alone is not enough.
If each organ simply did its own work without any restraint, one of them could still stretch its authority unchecked. Separation has to be backed by a power to intervene.

Step 3: The second condition, mutual restraint.
Ministers and officials exercise real power but remain responsible to Parliament or the State Assemblies. Judges, though appointed by the executive, can check the functioning of the executive and examine the laws made by the legislature.
Each organ can therefore call the others to account.

Step 4: The result of both conditions together.
No organ is able to exercise unlimited power, and a balance of power is maintained among the institutions. The source names this arrangement the system of checks and balances.

Final Answer: The legislature, the executive and the judiciary hold separate functions at the same level, and each can restrain the other two, the executive being answerable to the legislature and both being subject to review by the courts. That combination is what keeps power balanced.