UPSC Static Quiz, 14th March 2023

Correct Answer: C
Explanation
• Statements 1 and 3 are correct. Statement 2 is incorrect.
• The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) plays a very important role in Indian
society. It emphasizes the principle of universality and inviolability of child rights and recognizes the
tone of urgency in all the child-related policies of the country.
• Statement 1 is correct. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) was set up in
March 2007 under the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act, 2005. The NCPCR is a
statutory body under the administrative control of the Ministry of Women & Child Development,
Government of India.
• Statement 2 is incorrect. Anyone who is a person of eminence and has done outstanding work for
promoting the welfare of children can be appointed as Chairperson. There are no mandatory
requirements such as being a retired Judge of either the High Court or the Supreme Court.
• Statement 3 is correct. One of the Core Mandates of the Commission is to inquire into complaints of
violations of child rights. The commission is also required to take Suo moto cognizance of serious cases
of violation of child rights and to examine factors that inhibit the enjoyment of rights of children.

Correct Answer: A
Explanation
• Option A is correct.
• Article 20 of Indian Constitution provides for protection in respect of conviction of offences. It lays
down certain safeguards to the person accused of crimes as stated below:
1. Ex post facto law (Art. 20(1))
2. Double Jeopardy (Art. 20(2))
3. Self-incrimination (Art. 20(3)).
• Option A is correct. Article 20(3) provides for no self-incrimination that means no person accused of
any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself. The protection against self-incrimination
extends to both oral evidence and documentary evidence. However, it does not extend to
1. compulsory production of material objects,
2. compulsion to give thumb impression, specimen signature, blood specimens, and
3. compulsory exhibition of the body.
• Further, it extends only to criminal proceedings and not to civil proceedings or proceedings which are
not of criminal nature.
• Option B is incorrect. Article 359 authorizes the president to suspend the right to move any court for
the enforcement of Fundamental Rights during a National Emergency. The 44th Amendment Act of 1978
restricted the scope of Article 359. The President cannot suspend the right to move the Court for the
enforcement of fundamental rights guaranteed by Articles 20 to
21. The Supreme Court held that in any case no person can be stripped of his right to life and personal
liberty. Therefore. Articles 20 and 21 cannot be suspended even in case of a national emergency
• Option C is incorrect. Article 20 grants protection against arbitrary and excessive punishment to an
accused person whether citizen or foreigner or legal person like a company or a corporation.
• Option D is incorrect. The protection against double jeopardy is available only in proceedings before a
court of law or a judicial tribunal. In other words, it is not available in proceedings before departmental
or administrative authorities as they are not of judicial nature.
• The principle of no double jeopardy means no person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same
offence more than once

Correct Answer: C
Explanation
• Option C is correct.
• Statement A is correct. A session of Parliament consists of many meetings. Each meeting of a day
consists of two sittings, that is, a morning sitting from 11 am to 1 pm and post-lunch sitting from 2 pm to
6pm. A sitting of Parliament can be terminated by adjournment or adjournment sine die or prorogation
or dissolution (in the case of the Lok Sabha). An adjournment suspends the work in a sitting for a
specified time, which may be hours, days or weeks.
• Statement B is correct. The presiding officer (Speaker or Chairman) declares the House adjourned sine
die, when the business of a session is completed. Within the next few days, the President issues a
notification for prorogation of the session. However, the President can also prorogue the House while in
session.
• Option C is incorrect. Adjournment sine die means terminating a sitting of Parliament for an indefinite
period. In other words, when the House is adjourned without naming a day for reassembly, it is called
adjournment sine die. The power of adjournment as well as adjournment sine die lies with the presiding
officer of the House. S/He can also call a sitting of the House before the date or time to which it has
been adjourned or at any time after the House has been adjourned sine die.
• Option D is correct. The power to summon and prorogue either House of Parliament or to dissolve the
Lok Sabha vests with the President (Article 85(2)(b)). Rajya Sabha, being a permanent House, is not
subject to dissolution. Only the Lok Sabha is subject to dissolution, Unlike a prorogation, a dissolution
ends the very life of the existing House, and a new House is constituted after general elections are held

Correct Answer: A
Explanation
• Statements 1 and 2 are correct. Statement 3 is incorrect.
• Statement 1 is correct. A Governor is a constitutional functionary whose office generally has a term of
5 years. However, his/her term is subject to the ‘pleasure of the President’. This means that he can be
removed at any time by the President if he so wishes.
• The Supreme Court also clarified regarding this matter, that the ‘pleasure of the President’ is not
justifiable, i.e. the President needn’t specify his reason for removing a governor. So, a Governor has no
fixed term of office and no security of tenure.
• Statement 2 is correct. Article 356 empowers the President to declare emergency in a state known as
President’s Rule if he’s convinced that there has been a breakdown of constitutional machinery in a
state, and its government can no longer be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the
constitution.
• The President may determine that such a situation has arrived
1. Either on the basis of a report by the Governor of that state
2. Suo motu
• Thus a report by the governor saying that there has been a breakdown of constitutional machinery in a
state is not a necessary precondition for declaration of President’s Rule in that state.
• Statement 3 is incorrect. On 3rd August 2021, the Supreme Court held that the Governor of a State
can pardon prisoners, including death row ones , even before they have served a minimum of 14 years
of a prison sentence.
The recent judgement regarding the Governor’s power to pardon overrides a provision in the Code of
Criminal Procedure — Section 433A —which mandates that a prisoner’s sentence can be remitted only
after 14 years of jail.
Indian Polity by Laxmikanth, 5th edition, Ch-16, Ch-30

Correct Answer: D
Explanation
• Both the statements are incorrect.
• “Right to recall” was suggested by leaders such as Lok Nayak Shri Jayaprakash Narayan to make the
leaders accountable for their promises.
• Recall is a method by means of which the voters can remove a representative or an officer before the
expiry of his term, when he fails to discharge his duties properly. If a leader proves to be incapable of
fulfilling the promises made during his political campaign, then the public gets the right to remove that
leader.
• Statement 1 is incorrect. The Representation of the People Act, 1951, only provides for “vacation of
office upon the commission of certain offence.” It does not provide for general incompetence of the
representatives or dissatisfaction of the electorate as a ground for disqualification.
• Statement 2 is incorrect. There is some right to recall exercised at Panchayati and municipality
elections.
• In 2001, Madhya Pradesh amended its Panchayati Raj Act which allowed voters to recall
nonperforming elected representatives after two and a half years in office. This right has already been
exercised thrice.
• In Maharashtra, a similar initiative is yet to get legislative consent.