Article 356 | President’s Rule

Article 356 of the Indian Constitution tackles a State’s inability to follow or implement any directive from the Union Government. It gives the Indian President full authority to declare via a proclamation that the State has not complied with its constitutional duties. This declaration may result in the establishment of the President’s rule in the state, under which the governor serves as the president’s representative and takes on the responsibilities of the state government. In this article, you will read about its features, importance, history, instances, misuse, and criticism.

Article 356 | President’s Rule

Article 356 of the Indian Constitution

Article 356 of the Constitution of India is based on Section 93 of the Government of India Act, 1935. According to this, the President’s Rule can be imposed on any state of India on the grounds of the failure of the constitutional machinery.

For this, there are two categories:

1. If the Governor of the state reports to the President or if the President is otherwise convinced that the state’s circumstances prevent the state government from operating in conformity with the Constitution, the President may use Article 365.
2. If a state disregards any of the Union Government’s directions on subjects under its jurisdiction, this article permits the imposition of President’s Rule.

To put it briefly, this gives the President direct authority to take over state government responsibilities.

It is popularly termed the “State Emergency” or “Constitutional Emergency”.

Features of Article 356

• The imposition of a President’s Rule on a state requires parliamentary consent. Within two months following its release, the proclamation needs to be approved by both Houses of Parliament and a simple majority is sufficient for this approval.

• Initially, the President’s Rule lasts for six months, but it can be extended for up to three years with parliamentary approval, renewable every six months.

• Some restrictions on the extension of the President’s Rule beyond a year were imposed by the 44th Amendment to the Constitution (1978). According to this, the President’s Rule cannot be continued for more than a year unless:
  1. India is going through a national emergency.
  2. The Indian Election Commission attests that the state’s inability to hold assembly elections justifies the continuation of the President’s Rule in the area.

Importance of Article 356

What happens after the President’s Rule is imposed?

• On behalf of the President, the governor manages the state’s administrative affairs, with the support of the Chief Secretary of the state and additional advisers or administrators of their choosing.

• The President holds the authority to announce that the Parliament will use the powers of the state legislature.

• The President has the authority to dissolve or suspend the state legislature.

• When Parliament is not in session, the President is authorized to issue regulations pertaining to the administration of the state.

When is president’s rule imposed?

The imposition of President’s Rule has been observed in instances where:

• The state legislature fails to elect a Chief Minister within the duration specified by the state’s governor.

• When a coalition breaks down in the state government, the Chief Minister ends up with minority support in the legislature and can’t show a majority within the governor’s allotted period.

• A majority is lost in the legislative assembly in the event of a vote of no confidence.

• Elections are postponed because of unforeseen events like war, diseases, and natural catastrophes.

• The terms of Article 365 (as described earlier).

Revocation of President’s Rule:

The President may revoke the President’s Rule at any moment by issuing a future proclamation and parliamentary consent is not required for this revocation. This usually occurs when a political party leader submits papers proving their majority support in the assembly and makes an assertion that they are the legitimate government of the state.

History of Article 356

• It was added when the Indian Constitution was being drafted in 1949. The framers of the Constitution considered it imperative to include clauses that would ensure states would abide by the laws and commands of the Union Government.

• Throughout India’s history, this provision has been applied several times. The most notable example of these uses occurred from 1975 to 1977, during the Emergency period. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi used it at the time to impose President’s Rule in a number of states that were led by opposition parties.

• Since then, the article was criticised by the experts and its use became significantly rare:
  1. The first time this happened was in 1956, when Gopichand Bhargava, the chief minister of Punjab, was fired by President Jawaharlal Nehru, despite the fact Bhargava had a majority in the state legislature. The legislative body gave its approval to the Center’s attempt to dissolve the government because of fear of a communist State Government.
  2. The dissolution of non-ruling party state administrations resulted from the instability of the Centre in the 1970s.
  3. Moreover, Article 356 was utilised by the Congress and Janata Party to bring down elected governments.
  4. The Governors’ Committee, chaired by Bhagwan Sahay and investigating governor-related issues, was created by the then-President V.V. Giri in order to counteract this. Gopal Reddy, Aliyaver Jung, and S.S. Dhawan were also present. In 1971, the committee released its recommendations.
  5. The governors were in charge of upholding political stability and informing the president of any potential internal tensions or outside attack.
  6. Dr. Ambedkar also said that it would be like a “dead letter” (i.e. would be used rarely).

Instances of Article 365

List of a few instances of the use of Article 365 can be seen down below:

State	Term	Date of imposition	Date of revocation	Duration	Reason(s) to impose the President’s rule
Andhra Pradesh	1	18 January 1973	10 December 1973	327 days	Breakdown of law & order due to Jai Andhra Agitation, in CM P. V. Narasimha Rao’s tenure.
	2	28 February 2014	8 June 2014	100 days	Political impasse after the resignation of CM Kiran Kumar Reddy over the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
Andhra State	1	15 November 1954	29 March 1955	134 days	Loss of majority
Arunachal Pradesh	1	3 November 1979	18 January 1980	76 days	Loss of majority following defections in a fluid political environment during Janata party rule at the centre.
	2	25 January 2016	19 February 2016	26 days	Congress MLAs joining hands with BJP, leading to a minority government. The Supreme Court declared the imposition of president’s rule as unconstitutional.
Assam	1	12 December 1979	5 December 1980	359 days	‘Assam Agitation’ against illegal foreign nationals, leading to a breakdown of law and order.
	2	30 June 1981	13 January 1982	197 days	Collapse of the Congress (I) government due to the ‘Assam Agitation’ intensification.
	3	19 March 1982	27 February 1983	345 days	Collapse of the Congress (I) government due to continued violence in Assam.
	4	28 November 1990	30 June 1991	214 days	Dismissal triggered by the threat to internal security due to ULFA’s activities.
Bihar	1	29 June 1968	26 February 1969	242 days	Loss of majority following defections in a fluid political environment.
	2	4 July 1969	16 February 1970	227 days	Loss of majority following defections in a fluid political environment due to split in ruling Congress party
	3	9 January 1972	19 March 1972	70 days	Loss of majority following defections in a fluid political environment.
	4	30 April 1977	24 June 1977	55 days	Government dismissed in spite of Jagannath Mishra enjoying majority support in Assembly
	5	17 February 1980	8 June 1980	112 days	Government dismissed in spite of Ram Sundar Das enjoying majority support in Assembly
	6	28 March 1995	5 April 1995	8 days	Brief imposition to facilitate the passage of a vote on account during Laloo Prasad’s Chief Ministership.

Misuse of Article 356

While originally intended solely as a measure to safeguard the nation’s integrity and unity, it had been openly employed to remove state governments led by political opponents of the central government.

• India has employed Article 356 on several occasions throughout its history, the most notable being the Emergency that lasted from 1975 to 1977. It was cited by Indira Gandhi, the prime minister at the time, to establish presidential rule in a number of States where opposition parties held power. Since then, there has been debate regarding the application of Article 365, with some experts contending that it overly empowers the Union Government over the States.

• As the Supreme Court decided in the case of S.R. Bommai v. Union of India, the President’s decision is additionally subject to judicial review. By taking these steps, Article 365 will undoubtedly be utilised less frequently and only in extraordinary circumstances—rather than at the whim of a political party seeking electoral advantage.

• In 2016, President’s Rule was enforced in the state of Uttarakhand following the dismissal of the government led by the Indian National Congress by the Central Government. This action faced substantial criticism from opposition parties and constitutional experts.

• It was suggested in the Sarkaria Commission Report (1983) that Article 356 be applied “very sparingly” and as a last option.

• The Punchhi Commission suggested that the centre try to take control of just one difficult region, and that too for a short while—no more than three months.

Criticism of Article 356

If civil disturbance arises and the state administration lacks the resources to put a stop to it, Article 356 grants the Union government broad authority to impose its will over a state. Even though the goal of this article is to provide the Union government more authority to protect the country’s unity and integrity, the governing parties in the centre have frequently abused it, using it as a justification to overthrow state governments run by other political parties. As a result, many believe that it poses a danger to the federal state structure.
The Union government has invoked this provision many times since the Indian constitution was adopted in 1950 to impose President’s rule and dissolve elected state governments.

Only until the Supreme Court issued stringent rules for enforcing President’s rule in its 1994 decision in the S. R. Bommai v. Union of India case did the practice become less common. The Supreme Court’s subsequent rulings in Jharkhand and other states have considerably reduced the potential for Article 356 abuse. There has only been a significant decline in the instances of president’s rule imposition since the early 2000s.

Conclusion

Thus we see, how Article 356 refers to the imposition of the President’s rule by the union government in the provinces of India, whenever the state government fails to elect a new CM, the state cannot bring out the democracy in the state or the province and when a state fails to fulfill the orders given by the central legislature. The president’s rule came into existence in the 44th amendment of the Indian constitution and after the imposition of article 356 the president becomes head of the state and that particular state is directly governed by the parliament until the president dissolves the proclamation.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the Article 356 of the state Assembly?

Article 365 of the Indian Constitution tackles a State’s inability to follow or implement any directive from the Union Government. It gives the Indian President full authority to declare via a proclamation that the State has not complied with its constitutional duties.

What do you mean by the President’s rule in Article 365?

President’s Rule can be imposed if any state fails to comply with all directions given by the Union on matters it is empowered to.

What are the three types of emergency?

Part XVIII of the Constitution speaks of emergency provisions which are classified into three categories: 

Articles 352, 353, 354, 358, and 359 which relate to National emergency,

Articles 355, 356, and 357 which deal with the imposition of President’s rule in States in a certain situation and, 

Article 360 which speaks of financial emergency.

Who called Article 356 as “dead letter”?

Dr. BR Ambedkar, Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution of India, referred to Article 356 as a “dead letter” of the Constitution.

What do you mean by Revocation of President’s rule?

The President may revoke the President’s Rule at any moment by issuing a future proclamation and parliamentary consent is not required for this revocation. This usually occurs when a political party leader submits papers proving their majority support in the assembly and makes an assertion that they are the legitimate government of the state.