S. R. Bommai v. Union of India
This article is missing information about final decision / judgement.(January 2024) |
S. R. Bommai v. Union of India | |
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Article 356 |
S. R. Bommai v. Union of India (
Background
Bhimrao Ambedkar, chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution of India, referred to Article 356 as a dead letter of the Constitution. In the constituent assembly debate, it was suggested that Article 356 is liable to be abused for political gains. Ambedkar replied, "I share the sentiments that such articles will never be called into operation and they would remain a dead letter. If at all they are brought into operation, I hope the President, who is endowed with these powers, will take proper precautions before actually suspending the administration of the provinces. I hope the first thing he will do would be to issue a mere warning to a province that has erred, that things were not happening in the way in which they were intended to happen in the Constitution. If that warning fails, the second thing for him to do will be to order an election allowing the people of the province to settle matters by themselves. It is only when these two remedies fail that he would resort to this article."[8]
But this was never the case and before the judgement in Bommai case, Article 356 has been repeatedly abused to dismiss state Governments controlled by a political party opposed to ruling party at the federal level. Provision for suspension of elected governments has been used on more than 90 occasions and in most of the cases, it appeared to be of doubtful constitutional validity, as mentioned by B. P. Jeevan Reddy during one of his interviews in 1998.[3]
The facts
Bommai v. Union of India came before the bench of 9 judges (consisting of Kuldip Singh,
Karnataka
The
A writ petition was filed on 26 April 1989 challenging the validity of the proclamation. A special bench of 3 judges of Karnataka High Court dismissed the writ petition.
Meghalaya
On 11 October 1991 the president issued a proclamation under Article 356(1) dismissing the government of Meghalaya and dissolving the legislative assembly. The Proclamation stated that the President was satisfied on the basis of the report from the Governor and other information received by him that the situation had arisen in which the Government of the State could not be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. The Government was dismissed and the Assembly was dissolved accordingly.
Nagaland
On 7 August 1988, the president issued the proclamation on the basis of Governor Report and dismissed the Government of
Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh
On account of the Babri Masjid demolition, communal riots spread out in the entire country. The Central Government under the leadership of Shri P V Narsimharao of the Congress party banned RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal. The Central Government dismissed the BJP Governments of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. As a result, on 15 December 1992, the president issued the proclamation under Article 356 dismissing the State Governments and dissolving the Legislative Assemblies of Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. The validity of these proclamations was challenged by the Writs in the appropriate High Courts. The Madhya Pradesh High Court allowed the petition, but writ petition relating to Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh were withdrawn to Supreme Court.
All the above said petition contained similar question of law and therefore they were heard conjointly by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The arguments in the
The contentions
S. R. Bommai v. Union of India raised serious question of law relating to Proclamation of
The first and most important question which the Supreme Court had to determine was whether the Presidential Proclamation under Article 356 was
The second contention was whether the President has unfettered powers to issue Proclamation under Article 356(1) of the Constitution.
It was contended that since the Proclamation under Article 356(1) would be issued by the President on the advice of the Council of Ministers given under
It was also contended that whether any relief's can be granted when the validity of proclamation is challenged and whether the court can grant an interim stay against holding the fresh election.
Whether a president can dissolve the legislature without having obtained the approval of both the Houses of the Legislature. It was contended that
The principles laid down by Supreme Court
The Supreme Court laid down certain guidelines so as to prevent the misuse of Article 356 of the constitution.
- The majority enjoyed by the Council of Ministers shall be tested on the floor of the House.
- Centre should give a warning to the state and a time period of one week to reply.
- The court cannot question the advice tendered by the CoMs to the President but it can question the material behind the satisfaction of the President. Hence, Judicial Review will involve three questions only:
a. Is there any material behind the proclamation
b. Is the material relevant.
c. Was there any malafide use of power. - If there is improper use of Article 356 then the court will provide remedy.
- Under Article 356(3) it is the limitation on the powers of the President. Hence, the president shall not take any irreversible action until the proclamation is approved by the Parliament i.e. he shall not dissolve the assembly.
- Article 356 is justified only when there is a breakdown of constitutional machinery and not administrative machinery
Article 356 shall be used sparingly by the center, otherwise it is likely to destroy the constitutional structure between the center and the states. Even Bhimrao Ambedkar envisaged it to remain a 'dead letter' in the constitution.
Based on the report of the Sarkaria Commission on Centre–state Relations(1988), the Supreme Court in Bommai case (1994) enlisted the situations where the exercise of power under Article 356 could be proper or improper.
Imposition of President's Rule in a state would be proper in the following situations:
- Where after general elections to the assembly, no party secures a majority, that is, Hung Assembly.
- Where the party having a majority in the assembly declines to form a ministry and the governor cannot find a coalition ministry commanding a majority in the assembly.
- Where a ministry resigns after its defeat in the assembly and no other party is willing or able to form a ministry commanding a majority in the assembly.
- Where a constitutional direction of the Central government is disregarded by the state government.
- Internal subversion where, for example, a government is deliberately acting against the Constitution and the law or is fomenting a violent revolt.
- Physical breakdown where the government willfully refuses to discharge its constitutional obligations endangering the security of the state.
The imposition of President's Rule in a state would be improper under the following situations:
- Where a ministry resigns or is dismissed on losing majority support in the assembly and the governor recommends imposition of President's Rule without probing the possibility of forming an alternative ministry.
- Where the governor makes his own assessment of the support of a ministry in the assembly and recommends imposition of President's Rule without allowing the ministry to prove its majority on the floor of the Assembly.
- Where the ruling party enjoying majority support in the assembly has suffered a massive defeat in the general elections to the Lok Sabha such as in 1977 and 1980.
- Internal disturbances not amounting to internal subversion or physical breakdown.
- Maladministration in the state or allegations of corruption against the ministry or stringent financial exigencies of the state.
- Where the state government is not given prior warning to rectify itself except in case of extreme urgency leading to disastrous consequences.
- Where the power is used to sort out intra-party problems of the ruling party, or for a purpose extraneous or irrelevant to the one for which it has been conferred by the Constitution.
Malafide exercise of Article 356
While dealing with the question as to whether the
Powers of President under Article 356
The second question which was taken into consideration by the court was that whether the
Article 74 and justiciability of advice of Council of Ministers to the President
In regard to the contention, that
Invalidation of proclamation
The Supreme Court also held that the power of the court to restore the government to office in case it finds the proclamation to be unconstitutional, it is, in Courts opinion, beyond question. Even in case the proclamation is approved by the Parliament it would be open to the court to restore the State government to its office in case it strikes down the proclamation as unconstitutional. If this power were not conceded to the court, the very power of judicial review would be rendered nugatory and the entire exercise meaningless. If the court cannot grant the relief flowing from the invalidation of the proclamation, it may as well decline to entertain the challenge to the proclamation altogether. For, there is no point in the court entertaining the challenge, examining it, calling upon the Union Government to produce the material on the basis of which the requisite satisfaction was formed and yet not give the relief.
Powers of Parliament
Moreover, the Supreme Court firmly held that there was no reason to make a distinction between the Proclamation so approved and legislation enacted by the Parliament. If the Proclamation is invalid, it does not stand validated merely because it is approved of by the Parliament. The grounds for challenging the validity of the Proclamation may be different from those challenging the validity of legislation. However, that does not make any difference to the vulnerability of the Proclamation on the limited grounds available. And therefore the validity of the Proclamation issued under Article 356(1) can be challenged even after it has been approved by both Houses of Parliament under
Elections to Legislature pending final Disposal of case
Another issue taken into consideration by the Supreme Court was whether any relief can be granted when the validity of proclamation is challenged and whether the court can grant an interim stay against holding the fresh election. In this regard the Court held that the Court will have power by an interim injunction, to restrain the holding of fresh elections to the Legislative Assembly pending the final disposal of the challenge to the validity of the proclamation to avoid the
Secularism
Supreme Court while adjudicating that a State Government cannot follow particular religion discussed at length the concept of
Implications and criticism
This case in the history of the
The principles laid down in this case put a bar on the dismissal of the state government by the centre for political gains.
It was in this case that the court firmly laid down certain provision relating to presidential proclamation issued Under Article 356. The Court held that Presidential proclamation under Article 356 is not absolute and the power conferred by Article 356 on president is conditioned power. The Supreme Court held that
Although the Supreme Court limited President's Rule, people criticized that the Court took such a long time to deliver the verdict and allowed, in the cases of Karnataka and Meghalaya, the illegality to be perpetuated and ultimately deprive the citizens of those states to be governed by their chosen representative.
Still, the judgement delivered by the Supreme Court put a check on arbitrary dismissal of state governments in future and strengthen the federal structure of Indian polity which had hitherto been damaged on several occasions particularly when different political parties were in power at the Centre and the State.
Notes
- ^ a b "S. R. Bommai v. Union of India". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Judgement" (PDF). Article 51A.
- ^ a b Prasad, R. J. Rajendra (July 1998). "Bommai verdict has checked misuse of Article 356". Cover Story: Who's afraid of Article 356. Chennai, India: Frontline. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
- ^ "As Basavaraj Bommai rises, how his father changed the course of Indian politics". Hindustan Times. 29 July 2021.
- ^ "What is the S.R. Bommai case, and why is it quoted often?". The Hindu. 18 May 2018.
- ^ "Bommai verdict: A law for all time". Deccan Herald. August 2021.
- ISBN 81-7099-234-6.
- ^ "STATUTORY RESOLUTIONS RE. APPROVAL OF PROCLAMATIONS IN RELATION TO THE STATES OF UTTAR PRADESH, MADHYA PRADESH, HIMACHAL PRADESH AND RAJASTHAN". India: Parliament of India. 22 December 1992. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
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External links
- Case details as available Archived 2 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine on Indian Supreme Court website
- Case details as available on Legal Service India
- Executive discretion and Article 356 of the constitution of India: By K. Jayasudha Reddy and Joy V. Joseph
- Case details at indiankanoon.org
- Soli J. Sorabjee, Decision of the Supreme Court in S.R. Bommai v. Union Of India: A Critique [1]