Revocation of Proclamation

A proclamation of emergency may be revoked by the President at any time by a subsequent proclamation. Such a proclamation does not require the parliamentary approval.

Further, the President must revoke a proclamation if the Lok Sabha passes a resolution disapproving its continuation. Again, this safeguard was introduced by the 44th Amendment Act of 1978. Before the amendment, a proclamation could be revoked by the president on his own and the Lok Sabha had no control in this regard.

The 44th Amendment Act of 1978 also provided that, where one-tenth of the total number of members of the Lok Sabha give a written notice to the Speaker (or to the president if the House is not in session), a special sitting of the House should be held within 14 days for the purpose of considering a resolution disapproving the continuation of the proclamation.

A resolution of disapproval is different from a resolution approving the continuation of a proclamation in the following two respects:

1. The first one is required to be passed by the Lok Sabha only, while the second one needs to be passed by the both Houses of Parliament.

2. The first one is to be adopted by a simple majority only, while the second one needs to be adopted by a special majority.