New Delhi, June 27
Despite the last meeting of the Inter-State Council (ISC) favouring that safeguards provided in the Supreme Court judgement in Bommai case be suitably incorporated in Article 356, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has ruled out amendment, saying that the judgement itself will be adequate.
“It is felt that the judgement of the Supreme Court in the Bommai case will be adequate for providing safeguards against the possible misuse of Article 356 of the Constitution and therefore no amendment is necessary in this regard,” the Ministry of Home Affairs has said in its implementation report on the decisions taken by the council on the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission. It will be placed before the ISC here tomorrow.
The meeting to be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be attended by several Cabinet Ministers, Chief Ministers, Governors of Bihar and Lieut Governors/ Administrators of Union Territories.
The ministry has argued that incorporation of the
amendment as proposed by the ISC in line with the Sarkaria Commission recommendations may create “practical difficulties” in the future for achieving the purpose of issuance of proclamation under Article 356 of the Constitution.
“Such a provision could create political uncertainty, particularly when such proclamation is issued at the time when the House of People is dissolved or the dissolution of the House of People takes place during two months referred to in Article 356 (3) before the ratification of the issuance of proclamation under Article 356,” the MHA says.
“Sometimes it can also lead to horse trading in the intervening period, especially when it is a coalition government and there are smaller parties which could be influenced,” it says, adding that “if the amendment as proposed is carried out their it will not be possible to deal with the situations like those which prevailed in Uttar Pradesh in 1995 and in Goa in 1999.”
The Supreme Court in its judgement in the Bommai case had among other directions ruled that the Centre cannot dissolve state Assemblies unless proclamation under Article 356 (1) is approved by the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. It also made the use of Article 356 open to judicial review in order to ensure that the Central rule is not actuated by mala fide intentions.
The MHA while endorsing ISC’s acceptance of the recommendation of the Sarkaria Commission that Article 356 should be used most sparingly, said no amendment was required in the Constitution.
