UPSC Prelims 2017 · Question 92 of 99
UPSC Prelims 2017 question on Directive Principles Limitations
Consider the following statements: With reference to the Constitution of India, the Directive Principles of State Policy constitute limitations upon
1. legislative function
2. executive function
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
Show answer
Answer: D. Neither 1 nor 2
Verdict
The answer is neither 1 nor 2. The Directive Principles do not constitute limitations upon either the legislative or the executive function.
Analysis
The Directive Principles are non justiciable and cannot be enforced by any court, so they cannot operate as legal constraints on either organ. They are positive directions, fundamental in the governance of the country and a duty of the State to apply in making laws, rather than prohibitions. It is the Fundamental Rights that operate as limitations, restraining arbitrary legislation and executive action, which is precisely the contrast the question is built on.
Source
M. Laxmikanth, Indian Polity, chapter on Directive Principles.
How to crack it
Hold Part III and Part IV as a pair of opposites on three axes: negative against positive obligation, justiciable against non justiciable, and limitation against direction. Almost every question in this area is one of those three axes. Note that non enforceable does not mean unimportant, since Article 37 calls the Directives fundamental in governance and courts use them to interpret Fundamental Rights, and that nuance is itself a favourite follow up.