Author: Muskan, Amity University
Heading: S.R. BOMMAI VS UNION OF INDIA
S.R. Bommai v Union of India
INTRODUCTION
This was the most landmark case decided on 9 March 1994, held by a bench of the Supreme Court. This case mainly talks about the Dismissal of the state government under Article 356. It is part of our constitutional framework. It was a case where the Supreme Court, after almost 5 years, gave the final verdict article 356, which is been imposed at the time state government not doing the work correctly so the president imposed state emergency and now everything will done according to the government according to central government the state government need to obey the rule what the president ius been saying.
ABSTRACT
Background of the case
First of we will know about the main element Article 356 :
Constitutional machinery says that if the state government is not doing its work correctly and if any mishap has happened, if any breakdown of laws has happened, then the governor shows reports to the president of India after seeing the report if president thinks or is in thinking and thew report tells of any mishap happened with the procedure established law:
The president will impose a presidential rule on state of emergency. Now, the state government needs to obey the rules and decisions of the central government.
It is written under Article 355, which talks about the presidential rule and state emergency.
They need to follow certain rules stated by the central government.
They are subjected.
The commencement of the presidential term needs to first have to make a majority of consent from both houses of parliament.
If they want to continue for more than 6 months and make it to the 3 years so they have to make it approved again for the next 6 months.
Can only be removed by the president
NOW WE WILL KNOW THE CONSEQUENCES
The consequences of presidential rule are,
The President will overtake all power and function of of state government.
PROOF
1998
Dr. BR AMBEDKAR once in his speech at the Constituent Assembly has said that, I am writing this constitution as a dead letter, you have to use it only when the need arises
He said there should be a balance between the relations of the central government and the state government.
In the event of an emergency, when the emergency is imposed we used, Article 356 is available for a state emergency.
It is also said as a Unitary tilt between FEDERALISM, but we say we are quasi-federal because more open and has more power is slightly a mixture of both governments.
Facts of the Case
SR BOMMAI was a part of the Janata Dal,
When the party came into rule, many MPs and MLAs started shifting from their party to another party, the party of Congress, and they joined different political parties.
When turned out, a lesser MP MLA was declared in the counting; therefore, the party was declared a part of the minorities. The president has also removed SR BOMMAI as Chief Minister, as well as dismissed the party, the JANTA DAL.
Therefore, dismissal of the party has happened. S.R. BOMMAI wrote a letter, which was signed by all the party members, MPs, MLAs, to prove that they are not a minority and to show that they are in the majority.
Later, they took the letter as an application before Governor P Veneka, with everyone to prove their majority, and the governor, in return, said that they would not review their application and disapprove their offer, and the party is also acquitted.
Thereafter after BOMMAI went to the high court seeking justice against the decision of the Governor to bring the presidential rule in the state.
Now, what happened is that the high court also dismissed his writ petition. When the high court also dismissed his writ petition, without giving the reason for the dismissal and stating that if the president has been in any state, they can’t do anything, it can only be changed by the president of India.
Therefore, he moved to the apex court of India, the Supreme Court.
In the Supreme Court, this case was heard for almost 5 years after the final proceeding was brought. The reason for listening to the case after almost 5 years was that in our country situation from 1991, New parties can be referred to as the parties that were not started before and are not part of the established ones, which in the Indian National Congress, which is a kind of dominating one. These years of newly established parties of regional parties, the Coalition government.
The state government was misusing Article 356.
On 6 December 1992, the biggest issue was the issue of the BABRI MASJID DEMOLITION.
P.V. Narsimha Rao, who was the Prime Minister at that time, took the demolition of the Babri Masjid forward. riots across the country, leading to the dismissal of parties. The governments of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat . because these state governments didn’t control the peace and harmony of the state, which led to the loss of the lives of innocent people.
When the prime minister was asked to give a reason, the only reason he gave was the riots, the situation that was not stopping the mishappening in the country.
P.V. Narsimha Rao said that the government can’t continue in their state and a new, fresh election needs to be held.
IT will lead to so much money wasted in elections because every year, state assembly election happens, which are so costly. The money that will go to the election will be taken from our treasury, it will be wasted on an election that may be used.
On 11 March 1994, a 9-judge bench issued this historic judgement of S.R. BOMMAI in their order, they said that the dismissal of a political party was unconstitutional.
The bench came with the verdict stating that, power of the president to dismiss a state government is not absolute power to do that and not to have that right to do.
Whatever power the president has is not absolute. The president should exercise the power only after his proclamation [Imposing rule] is approved by both houses of parliament.
Therefore, the president should exercise the power only after his proclamation [Imposing Rule ] is approved by both houses of parliament.
The court came forward and implemented a formula [Suspended Animation] for that period.
Lately, they will be given a chance to prove the majority of their party, and they have a maximum number of people for the political party or the ruling party.
When will the government address the new and fresh election, the Assembly Dissolution, and form a new election?
Whenever the president orders something so for that he needs to consult with all members of parliament and needs to have a majority to pass any order from parliament.
If the president found any situation like this, he would pass an order making strict action and would declare a state emergency, the president’s rule.
This case has brought the in-depth analysis of what is going wrong in policy of the state government and improving it by passing a order judicial reviewto see that the president is doing things right or not
Therefore, the other political party will be given a chance to form a government.
In article 356, if used by the parliament President needs to look before constituent validity that the government they are dissolving is working is worthy or not.
The bench also said that he or the governor cannot dissolve, you have to suspend.
The court also said that the president’s proclamation under Article 356 is subject to Judicial review. All actions of the president will be judicially reviewed.
If Mala Fide intention grounds exist, there will be suspension and will take dissolution, and before the suspension, will be dismissed.
We can say that Article 356 has various benefits in a state of emergency. The judiciary has taken note and noted and solved the constitutional realm of constitutional imperatives, putting a central government rule on the state government, and not approving any power and holding on to it is the main element to think about here.
Our Constitution is a Constitutional framework and a legal document. It gives us the machinery for governing and has different ideas that are expected by the nation. We need to look to which we have gone at constitutional ideals we have achieved, now is the time to give every question an answer.
Our Constitution, specifically the Preamble, demonstrates that the people of our beloved India have resolved to constitute India as a democratic country, where we have promised to provide all its citizens with Justice, Liberty, and Equality. In our Indian Constitution, we have seen that the states do not have the power to impose decisions upon the central government. Our Indian Constitution says that at the top is the central government, or we can say the union government, responsible for all actions of the central government, and below is the state government, responsible for the state legislature, both the powers are divided into exclusive and concurrent, when we talk of state government which talks about state legislature .in every state there is the system talking of local urban and rural areas of there particular parts.
Therefore, we can say that our Indian constitution has a three-tier system
ISSUES RAISED BY S.R. BOMMAI
1] Constitutional grounds for stating the grounds and the rights of the presidential rule in the state.
2] The Ho, able Supreme Court has to determine whether the power of the president to exercise the power in the state is limited or can be exceeded under Article 356.
3] The ground that says that the imposition of President’s Rule could be challenged, or is it possible to challenge what they are saying?
The court also said that both houses of parliament, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, need to be judicially reviewed for their conduct.
If they didn’t do the part of reviewing by both houses, not approved by the houses, only in two months, the dismissal will be removed the state will start its function again.
The power of the president to dismiss the political party and impose a state of emergency in that situation is not absolute; it has limitations.
If any party does not attain a majority or has not been approved in two months so the dismissal of the government or any political party and the suspension will be revived; therefore, we conclude that Article 356 is not limited only to the president’s power, the power of the president can be judicially reviewed.
How the constitutional validity is tested to prove whether the power is arbitrary or not?
The judgment of the above-mentioned case is simple and south fully saying there is no doubt about the majority of the government, so the action that is mostly required is conducting a floor test in the assembly. Lastly, we don’t need to put down he whole government overnight.
DETAILED EXPLANATION OF ARTICLE 356:
The President can only impose the presidential rule in a state if the Governor of the state submits or presents a report or any other means that the state is not doing its work correctly and not according to its constitutional functions.
During this rule, the state government is fully suspended, and the central government is doing all the functions as referred to in the constitutional provisions, through the governor.
So when we say according to the 44th amendment to the constitution, introduced contain extends President’s Rule beyond one year, allowing it only in the case of a national emergency or if the election commission had to certify that it is necessary to conduct the election without any difficulties.
CONCLUSION
The case S.R. Bommai v UNION Of INDIA is said as the biggest landmark judgment of the constitution jurisprudence in our country. We have a quasi-federal government system. We don’t have a federal or unitary form of government in our country. What we have is the combination of both forms. This judgement brings the most important issue to us, the ARBITRARY power of the political leaders, even our President of India. This case was important because the president’s interference in the administrative power of state affairs.
FAQS
1]What is the bench of the S.R. Bommai vs Union of India case?
Justice S.R. Pandian, A.M. Ahmadi, Kuldip Singh, J.S. Verma, P.B. Sawant, K Ramaswamy, S.C. Agarwal, Yogeshwar Dayal, B.P. Jeevan Readdy is the main bench for looking into the case S.R. Bommai v Union of India.
2] What was the Impact of the S.R. Bommai case judgment?/
Due to this the the bench has stopped the arbitrary power of the president and put forwarded our Federal government to enhance.
As it limited the arbitrary dismissal of the state government, as in putting forward the central government.
3] How can it be said that Article 356 has been misused in this case?
It has a question on the power that is misused, and the other point to note is limiting the power by putting forward the Rule of Law and preserving our Democracy.
4] What is the floor test?
A floor test is also known as a trust vote. It is basically for those legislative bodies that are suspected of not having a majority and need to retain the confidence of the house members to gain trust and a majority.
