The leadership of the executive is a clear recognition of the fact that legislative and administrative initiative lies with the executive.
This is essentially due to the advance in the functions of the State from protection and order to justice and welfare. The concept of welfare is a broad one.
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It embraces economic prosperity, moral well-being and the whole system of values that compose the goal of a good life. The result is that the field of government activities has immensely increased and the State has reached from its starting point of man’s need for protection to the terminus of an ethical ideal.
If the government is to wisely perform its many functions and advantageous results are to be obtained there from, it imperatively calls for alterations in the techniques of doing a job. A government committed to planning and control must proceed on democratic lines and enlist the cooperation of those affected by its policy.
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There is also another point in it. Planning and control require exercise of wide discretion and judgment which may involve invasion on the sanctities of private life.
If welfare is to be real and a matter of substance, it, then, necessitates that those whose liberties are to be limited and even narrowly restricted must be consulted before they come into operation.
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“The proper use of advisory bodies,” maintained Sir Arthur Salter “is the right answer of representative democracy to the challenge of corporate States.”
It is, thus, essential that committees composed of well-informed persons equipped with necessary talent and commanding the confidence of the people and the interests concerned should be created for consultation and guidance.
Such committees may be intended to serve the cabinet as a whole and through it parliament as well, or they may function simply in relation to a particular department or office.
The government, in short, should be surrounded by organised committees which it must consult in all its transactions. It means prior consultation of all interests which are likely to be affected by the proposed policy or undertaking of the government.