Parliament is the federal legislature. Its powers are as follows:
1. Legislative: Parliament is primarily a law making body that enacts laws on the subjects in the Union List and the Concurrent List. In addition, under the circumstances prescribed in the Constitution, it can also enact laws on the subjects in the State List.
→Deliberates on and passes the ordinary bills presented before it by the Union Council of Ministers.
→Receives the ordinances issued by the President in the interval between two sessions and gives approval to these.
2. Control over the Executive: Parliament represents the people and is embodiment of the sovereignty of the people. It exercises control over the Union Executive by the following means:
→Discusses, criticises and makes changes in the policies of the government.
→Members' power to ask questions and supplementary questions to the ministers to seek information and thereby expose lapses. and shortcomings of government.
→Parliamentary committees probe the working of the government.
→Adjournment motions enable the members to raise important and urgent matters and seek response from the government.
→'Vote of censure against a minister for personal and departmental lapses: leading to the resignation of the minister.
→'Vote of no-confidence to bring down a weak. shaky, ineffective and irresponsible Council of Ministers.
3. Financial: The strings of the purse are in the hands of the elected Lok Sabha. It discusses and passes the Union Budget. Thereby it gives permission to levy and collect taxes, raise loans and incur expenditure.
→The passing of a cut motion' as well as the failure to get budget passed leads to the resignation of the Council of Ministers.
→The financial committees of Parliament scrutinise working of government with the help of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
4. Judicial: As a sovereign body. Parliament has power to impeach the President of India and the other high dignitaries.
→ It determines the number of the Judges of the Supreme Court and fixes their service conditions, salaries and allowances.