indian polity book series 16

Indian Polity - National Emergency, President Details & Analysis

Emergency Provisions

Provisions between Articles 352 to 360 describe about emergency situations.

President's emergency powers are adopted from the 1935 Act.

Methods of imposing emergency are adopted from the German (Weimar) Constitution.

Cancellation of Fundamental Rights during emergency is adopted from the German Constitution.

Provision for the right to life not being cancelled even during emergency is adopted from the Japanese Constitution.

The President can exercise his emergency powers in three types of emergency situations. They are:

1. National Emergency - Article 352
2. Constitutional Emergency - Article 356
3. Financial Emergency - Article 360

National Emergency (352):

• This must be approved by Parliament within 30 days. Initially it was 2 months. Reduced to 30 days by the 42nd Amendment in 1976.
• President proclaims national emergency when there is a threat to India's sovereignty due to foreign aggression, war, armed rebellion.

Changes made by the 44th Constitutional Amendment Act

1. Removed the words internal disturbance from the situation.
2. '352' should be imposed only with the written advice of the Union Cabinet.
3. Addition about the word 'Cabinet' - in 352
4. The President may revoke a proclamation of national emergency by a subsequent proclamation or by a resolution of Parliament.

When national emergency is imposed -

1. Union executive power control over states is established.
2. Parliament can legislate on items in all types of lists
3. Except for the rights mentioned in 20, 21, the President may suspend the remaining Fundamental Rights.
4. Unitary system is formed in place of federal system.
5. Term limits of Parliament, State Legislatures changes.
6. Center-state relations are affected.

J.C. Shah Commission inquired into the irregularities that took place during the 1975-77 national emergency period.

National emergency should be invoked only if armed rebellion occurs. - Approval from 1979 June 20.

National Emergency Imposed Occasions

S.No.	Time Period	Reason	President	Prime Minister	Defense Minister	Home Minister
1.	October 26, 1962 - January 10, 1968	War with China	S. Radhakrishnan	J.L. Nehru	Krishna Menon	L.B. Shastri
2.	December 3, 1971 - March 21, 1977	Pakistan attacking Bangladesh	V.V. Giri	Indira Gandhi	Jagjivan Ram	Indira Gandhi
3.	June 25, 1975 - March 21, 1977	Internal reasons	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed	Indira Gandhi	Indira Gandhi	Kasu Brahmananda Reddy

President's Rule or Constitutional Emergency (Article 356):

President's rule can be imposed in any state under the following circumstances.

1. When the Governor reports that governance is not going on according to constitutional principles
2. When no political party is able to form a government (due to lack of sufficient majority)
3. When the Governor reports that law and order is out of control

The word President's Rule is nowhere mentioned. The word "Proclamation" has been added.

Regarding the imposition of President's rule through Constitutional provision 356, the Supreme Court issued clear directions in the S.R. Bommai case in 1994. Declared that Article 356 is under judicial review.

Article 356 - Dead Letter (Dead Letter) - 356, (H.V. Kamath)

Most controversial article in center-state relations - 356

B.R. Ambedkar hoped that Article 356 should remain a dead letter.

Changes that occur in state governance when President's rule is imposed:

1. State government powers are vested in the President. Governor administers the actual governance on his behalf. The Center may appoint advisors to advise the Governor.
2. State legislature powers are vested in Parliament. State budget is approved by Parliament.

President's Rule in Andhra Pradesh

Time Period	Chief Minister	Governor
November 15, 1954 – March 29, 1955 (Andhra State)	-	Tanguturi Prakasam	C.M. Trivedi
March 11, 1973 – December 10, 1973	-	P.V. Narasimha Rao	Khandubhai Desai
February 28, 2014 – June 1, 2014	-	N. Kiran Kumar Reddy	E.S.L Narasimhan

Constitutional emergency imposed in any state must be approved by Parliament within two months. If approved, it will be in force for six months.

President's rule was first imposed in Punjab from June 20, 1951 to April 17, 1952. (Second time in 1956 in the Namboodiripad government in Kerala)

State with longest President's rule - Punjab (5 years)

State with shortest President's rule - Karnataka (8 days in 1990), Bihar (9 days)

States where President's rule was never imposed - Telangana, Chhattisgarh

Various Committees on Article-356:

1. 1st Administrative Reforms Commission - 1966
2. Rajamannar Committee - 1969
3. West Bengal Government Memorandum - 1977
4. Sarkaria Commission - 1983

Most times imposed - Uttar Pradesh, Manipur (10 times)

'356' in Union Territories:

Article 356 does not apply to Union Territories.

However, in Jammu & Kashmir which has a Legislative Assembly, President's rule can be imposed under Section 73 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019. The same applies to Pondicherry.

Financial Emergency (Article 360):

The President may impose financial emergency if the financial stability and credit of the country are threatened.

Financial emergency has not been imposed even once in India so far.

During financial emergency, salaries and allowances of government employees, including Supreme Court and High Court judges, except the President, may be reduced.

42nd Constitutional Amendment:

The President shall perform his functions in accordance with the advice given by the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister.

44th Constitutional Amendment:

The President may ask the Union Council of Ministers to reconsider the advice given by the Union Council of Ministers. If the Council of Ministers resubmits the same advice, it must be followed.

The above constitutional amendments make the President's powers even more nominal.

Even though the President represents the nation, the post of President has become even more nominal as he cannot rule the nation.

“President is an emergency lamp” - R. Venkataraman.

“Presidential post is a symbol of national unity” - Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

“Presidential post can be compared to the British Crown” - Ambedkar

Presidents - Analysis

S.No.	Election Year	President	Opponent
1	1952	Dr. Babu Rajendra Prasad	K.T. Shah
2	1957	Dr. Babu Rajendra Prasad	N.N. Das
3	1962	Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	Ch. Hariram
4	1967	Zakir Hussain	K. Subba Rao
5	1969	V.V. Giri	N. Sanjiva Reddy
6	1974	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed	Tridib Chaudhuri
7	1977	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy	Uncontested
8	1982	Zail Singh	H.R. Khanna
9	1987	R. Venkataraman	V. Krishna Iyer
10	1992	Shankar Dayal Sharma	George Swell
11	1997	K.R. Narayanan	T.N. Seshan
12	2002	A.P.J. Abdul Kalam	Lakshmi Sehgal
13	2007	Pratibha Patil	Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
14	2012	Pranab Mukherjee	P.A. Sangma
15	2017	Ram Nath Kovind	Meira Kumar