Understanding Article 59

Article 59 of the Indian constitution is constituted of the conditions that are required to be met for the president’s office. The criteria include the conditions associated with his or her election as the president of the country. The conditions of the president’s office state that an individual should not be a member of either Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha and should not hold any office of profit. Aside from this, the emoluments and allowances of the president and its associated guidelines are also mentioned in this article. This article also mentions the privileges of the president of the country.

Emoluments and allowance: discussion

Article 59 deals with the criteria of the emoluments and allowances allocated to the president of India. The president is allocated a fixed salary per month and is allocated a certain amount of monetary allowances per month. The president is also given several other monetary privileges. There are however several other conditions as well which are mentioned in article 59 of the constitution of India.

• The president cannot be a member of either the House of Parliament or the House of the legislature of any of the states. Even if he is a member of any of the houses, he or she will be required to vacate the seat of the particular House on the date of joining as the President of the country.
• The President cannot hold any office of profit under the central or state government of any public administration.  
• Emoluments and allowances of the president will not be reduced under any scenario during his or her tenure in the office.
• The President is entitled to use the official residences without payment of rents and such emoluments and allowances are also determined by the parliament by law. Until further provisions are made, the allowance, emoluments and privileges are provided based on the mentioned guidelines in the second section of the article.

“Diminished during his term of tenure”: discussion

The emoluments and allowances of the president to the president of India are amended over years. The allocated salary of the President is amended by the Union budget of 2018, which states the current salary to be drawn by the president is 5 lakhs per month. There will be other privileges and allowances provided to the president of India. Emoluments and allowances of the president will not be diminished during his term of office as per article 59. These emoluments, allowances and privileges are protected by Article 59 and the conditions of the president’s office. The recent allocation of funds for the president has been increased by 8.1 % in the Union budget 2020-21, now it accumulates to 80.98 crores of funds for the expenditure of presidential household and staff salaries.  

“Parliament by law”: discussion

There is a fixed amount of salary and allowances allocated for the president which cannot be diminished under any circumstances. This condition is protected by article 59 of the Indian constitution. The President of India is also exempted from paying any rent for the official residences and is also entitled to various emoluments and allowances along with various privileges during his or her tenure. These facilities are granted and determined by the parliament by law thereby provisions are made to the president. These provisions include the allowances and salary of the house staff working at the official residences of the president. The allowance for the household establishments in the president’s residence is also allocated by the Parliament by law.  

Conclusion

The president of India shoulders various responsibilities and powers that hold the integrity and unity of the nation. Therefore the president has various executive and authoritative powers that structure the governance of the country. The president, therefore, is provided with various facilities along with the allotted salary. The president is provided with various emoluments and allowances which will not be diminished under any circumstances during his official tenure.  The president is provided with various facilities and allowances that deal with the maintenance of the official residents and the household establishments. The allowances also provided the salary of the staff working in the official residences of the president.