The Collective and Individual Responsibility of the Ministers: The Constitution of India has itself declared that the Council of Ministers shall be responsible to the Lok Sabha (not to both the Houses). Ministerial responsibility is the essential feature of parliamentary form of government. The principle of ministerial responsibility has two dimensions: collective responsibility and individual responsibility.
A.Collective Responsibility of the Ministers: Our Constitution clearly says that "The Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to "House of the People". It actually means that the Ministers are responsible to the Lok Sabha not as individuals alone, but collectively also.
Collective responsibility has two implications, Firstly, it means that every| members of the Council of Ministers accepts responsibility for each and every decision of the Cabinet. Members of the Council of Ministers swim and sink together.
When a decision has been taken by the Cabinet, every Minister has to stand by it without any hesitation. If a Minister does not agree with the Cabinet decision, the only alternative left to him/her is to resign from the Council of Ministers.
The essence of collective responsibility means that, "the Minister must vote with the government, speak in defence of it if the Prime Minister insists, and he/she cannot afterwards reject criticism of his act, either in Parliament or in the constituencies, on the ground that he she did not agree with the decision."
Secondly, the vote of no-confidence against the Prime Minister is a vote against the whole Council of Ministers. Similarly, adverse vote in the Lok Sabha on any government bill or budget implies lack of confidence in the entire Council of Ministers, not only the mover of the bill.
B. Individual Responsibility of every Minister:
(i) Though the Ministers are collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha, they are also individually responsible to the Lok Sabha.
Individual responsibility is enforced when an action taken by a Minister without the concurrence of the Cabinet, or the Prime Minister, is criticised and not approved by the Parliament.
(ii) Similarly if personal conduct of a Minister is questionable and unbecoming he may have to resign without affecting the fate of the Government. If a Minister becomes a liability or embarrassment to the Prime Minister, he may be asked to quit.
