Constitutional Prescriptions relating to Compositions

Sl. No.	Institutions/Bodies	Composition	Related Article
1	Central Council of Ministers	Prime Minister and other Ministers	74
2	Parliament	President, Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha	79
3	Rajya Sabha	250 Members	80
4	Lok Sabha	550 Members	81
5	Supreme Court	Chief Justice of India and other Judges	124
6	State Council of Ministers	Chief Minister and other Ministers	163
7	State Legislature	Governor, Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly or Governor and Legislative Assembly	168
8	Legislative Assembly	Maximum 500 Members and minimum 60 Members	170
9	Legislative Council	Maximum one-third of the total number of members in the State Legislative Assembly and minimum 40 members	171
10	High Court	Chief Justice and other Judges	216
11	Panchayats	Determined by the State Legislature	243C
12	State Finance Commission	Determined by the State Legislature	243-I
13	State Election Commission	State Election Commissioner	243K
14	Municipalities	Determined by the State Legislature	243R
15	District Planning Committee	Determined by the State Legislature	243ZD
16	Metropolitan Planning Committee	Determined by the State Legislature	243ZE
17	Inter-State Council	Determined by the President	263
18	Goods and Services Tax Council	Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and Members	279A
19	Finance Commission	Chairman and four other Members	280
20	Inter-State Trade and Commerce Commission	Determined by the Parliament	307
21	Union Public Service Commission	Chairman and other Members	316
22	State Public Service Commission	Chairman and other Members	316
23	Joint State Public Service Commission	Chairman and other Members	316
24	Central Administrative Tribunal	Determined by the Parliament	323A
25	State Administrative Tribunal	Determined by the Parliament	323A
26	Tribunals for other matters	Determined by the appropriate Legislature (Parliament or State Legislature)	323B
27	Election Commission	Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners	324
28	National Commission for SCs	Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and three other Members	338
29	National Commission for STs	Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and three other Members	338A
30	National Commission for BCs	Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and three other Members	338B
31	Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes Commission	Determined by the President	339
32	Backward Classes Commission	Determined by the President	340
33	Official Language Commission	Chairman and other Members	344
34	Official Language Committee of Parliament	Thirty Members (twenty from Lok Sabha and ten from Rajya Sabha)	344
35	Legislative Assembly of Nagaland	Minimum 46 members	371A
36	Legislative Assembly of Sikkim	Minimum 30 members	371F
37	Legislative Assembly of Mizoram	Minimum 40 members	371G
38	Legislative Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh	Minimum 30 members	371H
39	Legislative Assembly of Goa	Minimum 30 members	371-I
40	Tribes Advisory Council	Maximum 20 members	Fifth Schedule
41	District Council of an Autonomous District	Maximum 30 members	Sixth Schedule

Analytical Insights on Constitutional Prescriptions for Composition

1. Two Major Constitutional Design Logics

The Constitution prescribes compositions in two different ways:

1. Fixed Composition – where numbers or structure are explicitly mentioned (e.g. Lok Sabha: 550 members).
2. Flexible Composition – where composition is left to be “determined” by an authority (e.g. Parliament, President, or State Legislature).

👉 This distinction reflects the balance between rigidity and flexibility in the Indian Constitution.

2. The Pattern of “Determination by Authority”

Notice how many bodies (like Panchayats, Municipalities, Planning Committees, Finance Commissions of States, etc.) have composition “determined by the State Legislature” or “determined by the President/Parliament.”

This pattern shows:

• The Constitution gives broad constitutional recognition,
  but leaves operational details to the respective governments.
• It allows federal flexibility to accommodate the diversity among states.

💡 Example: Panchayats in Kerala and Rajasthan differ in structure — the Constitution allows that variation under Article 243C

3. Constitutional Dualism: Union vs State Bodies

Let’s group them conceptually:

Union Level	State Level
Central Council of Ministers, Parliament, Supreme Court, Finance Commission, UPSC, Election Commission	State Council of Ministers, State Legislature, High Court, State Finance Commission, State Public Service Commission, State Election Commission

👉 The constitutional symmetry shows how the federal design mirrors itself vertically — one institution at the Centre corresponds to a similar one in the States.
However, symmetry is not identicality — the Centre’s structures are constitutionally detailed, while the States’ structures are constitutionally flexible (as in Panchayats, SFC, SEC).

3. Balance Between Uniformity and Diversity

Some institutions are uniform across India, e.g.:

• Parliament → fixed bicameral structure
• Supreme Court → fixed head (CJI) and other judges
• Finance Commission → fixed 1 + 4 members

Others are variable, based on population, state size, or administrative needs, e.g.:

• Legislative Assemblies (Article 170) – min 60, max 500 members
• Legislative Councils – variable, capped at one-third of Assembly size
• Panchayats/Municipalities – determined by state legislatures
• Autonomous Councils (Fifth and Sixth Schedules) – depend on tribal area characteristics.

➡️ Logic: The framers allowed elasticity at the state and local level to ensure governance structures remain practical and adaptable.

5. Fixed vs Functional Bodies

Another useful way to view this table is by their nature of functioning:

Permanent Constitutional Organs	Ad Hoc / Advisory / Functional Bodies
Parliament, State Legislatures, Supreme Court, High Courts, Election Commission, UPSC	Finance Commission, Official Language Commission, Tribes Advisory Council, Planning Committees

💡 Insight:
Permanent bodies define the structure of government, while ad hoc or periodic ones ensure accountability, review, and representation.
Hence, the Constitution mentions compositions even for temporary institutions — to ensure representativeness and neutrality.

6. The Principle of “Checks and Balances through Composition”

The Constitution designs compositions to avoid concentration of power:

• Finance Commission (Art. 280) → 1 Chairman + 4 members = collective judgment, not individual discretion.
• Election Commission (Art. 324) → CEC + ECs = plural decision-making.
• GST Council (Art. 279A) → Centre + States = cooperative federalism in tax policy.
• Inter-State Council (Art. 263) → President determines = flexibility in intergovernmental coordination.

Thus, composition itself becomes a tool of accountability.

7. “Determined by the President” – Why So Often?

Bodies like:

• Inter-State Council (Art. 263)
• Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes Commission (Art. 339)
• Backward Classes Commission (Art. 340)
• Official Language Commission (Art. 344)

→ all have composition determined by the President.

🔎 Insight:
This reflects a design choice — these are national coordination bodies dealing with inter-state or inter-community issues, so the Union Executive is empowered to frame their structure to maintain unity and uniformity.

8. Representation Principle in Composition

Across the table, notice the principle of representative inclusion:

• Parliament (Art. 79) → President + two Houses (symbolic inclusion of Executive + Legislature)
• District and Metropolitan Planning Committees (Arts. 243ZD, 243ZE) → inclusion of elected members of local bodies + government nominees
• Tribes Advisory Council (Fifth Schedule) → majority tribal representation
• Official Language Committee → 20 from Lok Sabha + 10 from Rajya Sabha (reflecting both popular and regional voices)

👉 Thus, composition is used as an instrument to embed democratic representation into each constitutional institution.

9. The Blend of Parliamentary and Presidential Determination

Notice how the Constitution distributes compositional powers:

• President decides → bodies with executive character (e.g. Commissions, Councils)
• Parliament decides → bodies with legislative or quasi-judicial character (e.g. Tribunals under Art. 323A, 323B)
• State Legislature decides → bodies with local governance or planning character (e.g. Panchayats, Municipalities)

This shows the Constitution’s principle of decentralised constitution-making — empowering each level to structure its institutions according to its domain.

10. The Federal Layering of Institutions

The table also reveals how the Constitution creates multi-layered governance:

1. Union bodies (e.g. Parliament, Supreme Court, UPSC)
2. State bodies (e.g. State Legislature, High Courts, SPSC)
3. Local bodies (e.g. Panchayats, Municipalities)
4. Autonomous/Advisory bodies (e.g. District Councils, Tribes Advisory Council)

Each layer is not independent, but interlinked — ensuring continuity of governance and accountability from Centre to periphery.

🧩 Overall Takeaway

The Constitution of India blends precision with flexibility in prescribing compositions.
Where uniformity is essential (like Parliament, Finance Commission), it gives exact numbers.
Where contextual variation is necessary (like Panchayats, Planning Committees), it leaves the composition to legislative discretion.

This fine balance between constitutional rigidity and federal adaptability is what makes India’s constitutional design both stable and evolutionary.