296 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
The power of veto gives to the King the right to reject the advice of a Minister of his Cabinet that a certain course of action may be pursued. But it does not give the King the right to act in a particular way without the advice of a Minister to take responsibility for it.
The power of individual judgment and individual discretion not only gives the Governor the right to reject the advice of a Minister but it also gives him the right to act without the Minister’s advice in support of that. In fact, contrary to the advice of the Minister, the King must have some Minister to support the action he proposes to take. The Governor need have no Minister to support the action he takes. That is the difference between the power of veto and the power of individual judgment.
Limited Ministry
Mr. Rajagopalachari’s claim that the Ministers in India are entitled to the same treatment which Ministers under the Parliamentary system of popular government are entitled to, disclose a complete misunderstanding of the system of Government embodied in the Government of India Act. The system of Government embodies in the Government of India Act is a system of limited Ministry. It is not a system of limited monarchy. In a limited monarchy the authority of monarchy is limited by the power of the ministry. In the limited ministry system, the power of the ministers is limited by the authority of the Governor. If these distinctions which I have tried to point out, the distinction between veto power and individual judgment and the distinction between limited ministry and limited monarchy, are borne in mind, it will be easy to understand why the King can suspend his power of veto and the Governor cannot. The Governor cannot give up his special powers. Under the law, he is responsible for whatever is done by the Ministry should the action of the Ministry result in evil consequences. One may quarred with the constitution and insist that the responsibility should be on the Ministry and not on the Governor but one cannot ignore it. Taking the Constitution as it is and marking the difference that exists between it and the English Constitution, there is no question in my mind that the legal inability of the Governors to abandon their special powers is real and that they cannot have abdicated their functions without violation of the