President's rule

President's rule (or central rule) is a term used in India when a state is placed under direct federal rule. It is called president's rule as the President of India governs the state instead of a Council of Ministers headed by a elected Chief Minister accountable to the state legislature.

President's rule is enabled by Article 356 of the Constitution of India, which gives authority to impose central rule if there has been failure of the constitutional machinery in any state of India. During President's Rule, a Governor appointed by the Central Government assumes executive authority. Since the governor is appointed by the President of India on the advice of the central government, the state's policies are controlled by the ruling party at the centre. During President's Rule, the Governor appoints advisor(s), who are retired civil servants, to help in administration. The advisors act in lieu of state ministers.

When is President's Rule imposed?

In practice president's rule has been imposed under different circumstances such as

1. State Legislature is unable to elect a leader as Chief Minister

2. Break down of Coalition

3. Irretrivable break down of law and order

4. Rebellion or insurgency in a part of India

5. Elections are postponed due to unavoidable reasons

6. Malafide use of powers by Central Governments. Was common until the mid nineties, until stopped due to judicial prononouncements

Instances of President's Rule

Indian State	Date From	Date To	Reasons & Comments
Andhra Pradesh	11 Jan 1973	10 Dec 1973	Break down of Law & Order due to Telangana agitation
Arunachal Pradesh	03 Nov 1979	18 Jan 1980
Assam	12 Dec 1979	05 Dec 1980
Assam	30 Jun 1981	13 Jan 1982
Assam	19 Mar 1982	27 Feb 1983
Assam	28 Nov 1990	30 Jun 1991
Bihar	07 Mar 2005	24 Nov 2005	Indecisive outcome of elections.
Goa	02 Dec 1966	05 Apr 1967	Then Union Territory of Goa's Assembly was dissolved to conduct Opinion Poll to determine whether Goa should be merged with Maharashtra.
Goa	27 Apr 1979	16 Jan 1980
Goa	14 Dec 1990	25 Jan 1991
Goa	09 Feb 1999	09 Jun 1999
Goa	04 Mar 2005	07 Jun 2005
Jammu & Kashmir	06 Mar 1986	07 Nov 1986	Loss of majority
Jammu & Kashmir	19 Jan 1990	09 Oct 1996	Insurgency and break down of law and order.
Jammu & Kashmir	18 Oct 2002	02 Nov 2002	Indecisive outcome of elections.
Jammu & Kashmir	11 Jul 2008	05 Jan 2009	Loss of Majority following collapse of coalition. Then CM Mr. Gulam Nabi Azad's decision to transfer land for Amarnath pilgrimage led to PDP pulling out of coalation Govt.
Jharkhand	19 Jan 2009	29 Dec 2009	Loss of Majority
Jharkhand	1 Jun 2010	11 Sep 2010	Loss of Majority
Karnataka	19 Mar 1971	20 Mar 1972	Loss of Majority
Karnataka	31 Dec 1977	28 Feb 1978	Govt. dismissed in spite of Congress CM Mr. Devraj Urs enjoying majority support in Assembly
Karnataka	21 Apr 1989	30 Nov 1989	Loss of Majority of CM Mr. S. R. Bommai, followed by dissolution of Assembly. On an appeal by Mr. S. R. Bommai, in a landmark judgement, the Indian Supreme Court laid out the procedure to be followed befor dissolving a elected Assembly. The historic ruling in this case reduced the scope for misuse of Article 356 by future Central Governments and Governors.
Karnataka	9 Oct 2007	11 Nov 2007	Loss of Majority
Karnataka	20 Nov 2007	27 May 2008	Loss of Majority
Kerala (Travancore-Cochin)	23 Mar 1956	05 Apr 1957	Loss of Majority following split in Congress Party
Kerala	31 Jul 1959	22 Feb 1960	Govt. dismissed in spite of Communist CM Mr. EMS Namboodiripad enjoying majority support in Assembly
Kerala	10 Sep 1964	06 Mar 1967	Loss of Majority followed by indecisive outcome of elections
Kerala	01 Aug 1970	04 Oct 1970	Loss of Majority
Kerala	01 Dec 1979	25 Jan 1980	Loss of Majority
Nagaland	20 Mar 1975	25 Nov 1977
Nagaland	07 Aug 1988	25 Jan 1989
Nagaland	02 Apr 1992	22 Feb 1993
Nagaland	03 Jan 2008	12 Mar 2008	Govt. dismissed after controversial confidence vote secured in the Assembly by CM Mr. Neiphiu Rio
Orissa	09 Jan 1971	03 Apr 1971
Orissa	17 Feb 1980	09 Jun 1980	Govt. dismissed in spite of Mr. Nilamani Routray enjoying majority support in Assembly
PEPSU	05 Mar 1953	08 Mar 1954	President's rule was invoked in the erstwhile PEPSU (Patiala and East Punjab States Union ) State when the Akali Dal government led by Gian Singh Rarewala was dismissed.
Puducherry	18 Sep 1968	17 Mar 1969
Puducherry	03 Jan 1974	06 Mar 1974
Puducherry	28 Mar 1974	02 Jul 1977
Puducherry	12 Nov 1978	16 Jan 1980
Puducherry	24 Jun 1983	16 Mar 1985
Puducherry	04 Mar 1991	03 Jul 1991
Punjab	20 Jun 1951	17 Apr 1952
Punjab	05 Jul 1966	01 Nov 1966
Punjab	23 Aug 1968	17 Feb 1969
Punjab	14 Jun 1971	17 Mar 1972
Punjab	30 Apr 1977	20 Jun 1977
Punjab	17 Feb 1980	06 Jun 1980	Govt. dismissed in spite of Mr. Parkash Singh Badal enjoying majority support in Assembly
Punjab	10 Oct 1983	29 Sep 1985	Insurgency and break down of law and order
Punjab	11 Jun 1987	25 Feb 1992	Insurgency and break down of law and order
Tamil Nadu	31 Jan 1976	30 Jun 1977	Govt. dismissed in spite of Mr. Karunanidhi enjoying majority support in Assembly
Tamil Nadu	17 Feb 1980	06 Jun 1980	Govt. dismissed in spite of Mr. M G Ramachandran enjoying majority support in Assembly
Tamil Nadu	30 Jan 1988	27 Jan 1989	Govt. dismissed after controversial confidence vote secured in the Assembly by CM Mrs. Janaki Ramachandran
Tamil Nadu	30 Jan 1991	24 Jun 1991	Govt. headed by Mr. M. Karunanidhi dismissed for anti national activities
Uttar Pradesh	08 Mar 2002	02 May 2002	Indecisive outcome of elections.

Criticism

Article 356 gave wide powers to the central government to assert its authority over a state if civil unrest occurred and the state government did not have the means to end the unrest. This is one of the articles that gave the Indian constitution some amount of unitary character. Though the purpose of this article is to give more powers to central government to preserve the unity and integrity of the nation, it has often been misused^{[citation needed]} by the ruling parties at the center. It has been used as a pretext to dissolve state governments ruled by political opponents^{[citation needed]}. Thus, it is seen by many as a threat to the federal state system. Since the adoption of Indian constitution in 1950, the central government has used this article several times^{[citation needed]} to dissolve elected state governments and impose President's rule.

The article was used for the first time in Punjab on 20 June 1951. It has also been used in the state of Patiala and East Punjab States union (PEPSU) and then during Vimochana samaram to dismiss the democratically elected Communist state government of Kerala on 31 July 1959. In the 1970s and 1980s it almost became common practice for the central government to dismiss state governments led by opposition parties^{[citation needed]}. The Indira Gandhi regime and post-emergency Janata Party were noted for this practice. It is only after the landmark judgement in 1994 in the S. R. Bommai v. Union of India case that the misuse of Article 356 was curtailed. In this case, the Supreme Court established strict guidelines for imposing president's rule. Subsequent pronouncements by the Supreme Court in Jharkand and other states have further whetted down the scope for misuse of Article 356. Hence since the early 2000, the number of cases of imposition of President's rule has come down drastically.

Article 356 has always been the focal point of a wider debate of the federal structure of government in Indian polity. The Sarkaria Commission on Center-State relations has recommended that Article 356 must be used "very sparingly, in extreme cases, as a measure of last resort, when all the other alternatives fail to prevent or rectify a breakdown of constitutional machinery in the state".^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Federalism in India
• PART XVIII of Indian constitution
• Article 370
• Sarkaria Commission

References and external links

• Article 355 and 356 text from wikisource
• Discusses the instances where presidents rule has been invoked
• [1]