Collective responsibility, also known as collective ministerial responsibility, is a constitutional convention in Parliamentary systems that members of the cabinet must publicly support all governmental decisions made in Cabinet, even if they do not privately agree with them. Article 75(3) of Indian Constitution   states   that   the   Council   of   Ministers   shall   be collectively responsible to the House of the People

Body:

Collective responsibility means members of a Cabinet follow an integrated policy, for which all of them accept responsibility and on which they stand or fall together.  Even  if  there  are  differences  among  them  on  minor matters,  they  must  always  put  up  a united front in the legislature and before the country.

Lord Salisbury explained the principle of collective responsibility as: “For all that passes in the Cabinet, each member of it who does not resign is absolutely irretrievably responsible, and has no right afterwards to say that he agreed in one sense to a compromise while in another he was persuaded by his colleagues.”

Collective Responsibility is a myth in India:

• Since Independence,   several   Prime   Ministers   had   difficulty   in   enforcing collective
• For instance, during the regime of Jawaharlal Nehru, the country faced a shortage of food grains, resulting in high prices.
• When the MPs criticized the Government for not tackling this problem properly, the then Minister for  Food  and  Agriculture,  said  the  members  should  direct  their  complaints against other ministries, including the Ministry of Irrigation and Power for not providing adequate water for cultivation; the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for not supplying fertilizers;  the  Ministry  of  Health  for  not  checking  the  growth  of  the  population;  the Ministry  of  Railways  for  not  providing  an  adequate  number  of  wagons  for  movement  of food  grains;  and  the  State  governments  for  not  effectively  implementing  the  various policies relating to agriculture.
• Morarji Desai,  who  was Prime  Minister  from  1977-79,  had  a  tough  time  ensuring  the efficient   working   of   his   Charan   Singh,   the   then   Home   Minister,   publicly criticized Desai, mentioning several specific instances where he had violated the principle of collective responsibility.
• There have been numerous other instances where Prime Ministers have been unwilling or unable to enforce collective responsibility, thereby affecting the country’s progress.
• There have been a number of resignations in the past because of the differences with the Cabinet. Mathai resigned as a Finance Minister because he disagreed with the Cabinet on the question of scope and powers of the Planning Commission which was proposed to be set up then.
• D. Deshmukh resigned because he differed from the Cabinet on the issue of re-organization of States, especially on the question of Bombay.
• Collective responsibility becomes a bigger challenge when there is a coalition government, as the Cabinet comprises representatives of several parties, many of which have no clear-cut policies.

Implications:

• The inability of the Government to function on the basis of collective responsibility is the chief cause of infrastructural deficiencies, the heavy cost and time-escalation in implementing development projects, failure of poverty eradication schemes and the lack of dynamism in the export drive.
• It is not possible to achieve economic growth.

Conclusion:

The principle of Collective Responsibility may be regarded as fundamental to the working of the Parliamentary Government, as it is in the solidarity of the Cabinet that its main strength lies. The principle of Collective Responsibility means that the Council of Ministers is responsible as a body for the general conduct of the affairs of the government. All ministers stand or fall together in Parliament, and the government is carried on as a unity.