3. State Emergency (Articles 356 and 365)

♤ State Emergency is also known as President’s Rule or Constitutional Emergency.

♤ However, the Constitution does not use the word ‘emergency’ for this situation.

Article 356 of the Constitution was one of the most keenly debated and discussed in the Constituent Assembly. In the words of Dr. Ambedkar “such

articles will never be called into operation and that they would remain a dead letter”. Such a hope got buried within one year of the working of the Constitution, when in June 1951, the Punjab Government was dismissed despite having a clear majority in the Assembly. Since then, till now Article 356 has been used approximately 120 times.

3.1. Grounds for President’s Rule 3.2. Procedures and safeguards 3.3. Difference between National Emergency & President rule:Consolidated Fund of the State.3.6. Observations of various Committees/Commissions Sarkaria Commission (1987)National Commission for Reviewing the Working of Constitution (2002)Punchhi Commission (2008)Law Commission 3.7. Judicial review and Article 356 State of Rajasthan v. Union of India case judgment, 1977 S.R. Bommai case Judgment,1994 Rameshwar Prasad & Ors vs Union of India, 2006 (The defection case)