All eyes on Centre over Prez rule

• Parliament has to ratify the Prez rule within 2 months
• The Prez Rule was imposed in the State on March 1
• Centre may dissolve Assembly, seek fresh imposition

Hyderabad: The Centre will in all probability allow the President’s Rule to lapse and opt for re-imposing it to avoid a constitutional crisis that is staring at the State, opine constitutional experts. This could be the only way at this juncture as there is no scope for convening a special session of Parliament to fulfill the constitutional obligation of ratifying the Centre rule within two months.

The President’s rule was imposed in the State by a proclamation on March 1 last and it has to be ratified mandatorily within two months. The deadline is fast nearing and the the Centre is yet to come out with a decision to avert the constitutional crisis. Governor E S L Narasimhan is likely to leave for New Delhi on April 24 to discuss the issue. Dissolving the Assembly which has been kept in suspended animation and issue of a fresh proclamation could be what the Centre can opt for at this juncture as the government is in no position to convene a special session of the Parliament.

C V Mohan Reddy, a senior advocate and former Advocate-General, said if the government cannot convene both the Houses of parliament, it can only allow the first proclamation to lapse and seek re-imposition of President’s rule, providing itself with another two months for the mandatory ratification.

C V Mohan Reddy, a senior advocate and former Advocate-General, said that if the government cannot convene both the Houses of the parliament, it can only allow the first proclamation to lapse and go in for re-imposition of President’s rule, thus providing itself with another two months’ time for the mandatory ratification. The Governor has to submit a fresh report to Parliament to facilitate this. Since the Assembly is not dissolved, ratification by Parliament could be the right way to deal with the issue, he added. S Satyam Reddy, another senior advocate, said that dissolving the Assembly and issue of fresh proclamation could be one of the options available for the government to avoid a constitutional crisis.

It may appear to be as simple as that. But the power conferred on the Governor to issue an ordinance is an emergency power, he said. G Ramanjaneyulu, Deputy Secretary in the Law department, opined that the Supreme Court verdict in Dr D C Wadhwa & Others vs State Of Bihar case would come in the way of re-promulgation of the Presdent’s rule in the state. Striking down the Bihar Intermediate Education Council Ordinance, 1983, the Supreme Court observed that the Governor cannot assume the legislative function in access of the strictly defined limits set out in the Constitution because otherwise he would be usurping a function which does not belong to him. “It is significant to note that so far as the President of India is concerned, though he has the same power of issuing an Ordinance under Article 123 as the Governor has under Article 213, there is not a single instance in which the President has, since 1950 till today, re-promulgated any Ordinance after its expiry.

The startling facts which we have narrated above clearly show that the Executive in Bihar has almost taken over the' role of the Legislature in making laws, not for a limited period, but for years together in disregard of the constitutional limitations. “This is clearly contrary to the constitutional scheme and it must be held to be improper and invalid. We hope and trust that such practice shall not be continued in the future and that whenever an Ordinance is made and the Government wishes to continue the provisions of the Ordinance in force after the assembling of the Legislature, a Bill will be brought before the Legislature for enacting those provisions into an Act. There must not be Ordinance Raj in the country,” he said.

Ramanjaneyulu said there is still scope to opt for a care-taker government by allowing the promulgation to lapse so as to run the show till the democratically elected governments come into existence in the two states of Telangana and the residuary Andhra Pradesh after the appointed Date i.e, June 2.