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Emergency provisions

Federalism and Centre-State Relations · Part 3 / 3 · Fact-checked on 17 October 2026 · how we check

Written with AI from the sources listed at the bottom of this page, then fact-checked by a separate AI.

National emergency (Article 352): grounds, approval, revocation, the 1962, 1971 and 1975 proclamations, and effects on federalism and Fundamental Rights (Articles 358, 359); President's Rule (Articles 356, 357), its time limits and S.R. Bommai (1994); financial emergency (Article 360); and a comparison of the three.

Parts 1 and 2 described a federation in normal times. Part XVIII of the Constitution (Articles 352 to 360) deals with abnormal times, when the Union may take powers that ordinarily belong to the States and, in some cases, limit Fundamental Rights. There are three kinds of Emergency: a national emergency because of war, external aggression or armed rebellion (Article 352); the failure of constitutional machinery in a State, popularly called President's Rule (Article 356); and a financial emergency (Article 360). The framers wanted the Union to be able to hold the country together in a crisis, and the suspension of rights during an emergency was modelled on the Weimar Constitution of Germany. The experience of 1975 showed how these powers could be misused, and the 44th Amendment (1978) added most of the safeguards studied in this part.

Under Article 352 the President may proclaim a national emergency if satisfied that the security of India or any part of it is threatened by war, external aggression or armed rebellion, and may do so before the actual event if the danger is imminent. The ground 'armed rebellion' replaced the vaguer 'internal disturbance' through the 44th Amendment, because the 1975 emergency had been declared on that wider ground. The same amendment required that the President act only on a written decision of the Union Cabinet, so that a Prime Minister alone could no longer advise it. Since the 42nd Amendment a proclamation may cover the whole of India or only a part. The 38th Amendment (1975) had made the President's satisfaction immune from courts; the 44th Amendment removed that clause, so a proclamation can now be challenged on grounds such as mala fides.

Parliament keeps a tight hold on a national emergency. The proclamation must be approved by both Houses within one month (two months before the 44th Amendment), each House voting by a special majority: a majority of its total membership and two-thirds of members present and voting. Once approved it lasts six months and can be extended by fresh approvals every six months, with no upper limit. If the Lok Sabha is dissolved at the time, the Rajya Sabha's approval keeps the proclamation alive until the new Lok Sabha approves it within 30 days of its first sitting. Revocation is easier than approval. The President may revoke the proclamation at any time and must do so if the Lok Sabha passes a resolution disapproving it, by a simple majority. One-tenth of the Lok Sabha's members can demand a special sitting for this purpose, which must be held within 14 days of their notice.

India has seen three proclamations of national Emergency. The first came in October 1962 during the Chinese aggression and stayed in force until 1968. The second was proclaimed in December 1971 during the war with Pakistan, on the ground of external aggression. The third, on 25 June 1975, was proclaimed on the ground of internal disturbance while the 1971 proclamation was still in force, so two emergencies ran together; both were revoked in March 1977. The 1975 emergency, with mass preventive detention and press censorship, is the reason the 44th Amendment was passed. A simple way to see its lesson: the first two emergencies faced threats from outside India, while the third was declared against unrest inside the country, on a ground loose enough to cover political opposition. That is why 'internal disturbance' was narrowed to 'armed rebellion'.

A national emergency turns the federation almost into a unitary state without suspending the States' governments. Under Article 353 the Union's executive power extends to giving directions to any State on any matter. Under Article 250, Parliament may make laws on any subject in the State List; such laws lapse six months after the emergency ends. Under Article 354 the President may, by order, modify the distribution of revenues between the Union and the States, but only up to the end of the financial year in which the emergency ends, and the order must be laid before Parliament. The Lok Sabha's five-year term may be extended by a law of Parliament one year at a time, but not beyond six months after the emergency ends; a State assembly's term can be extended in the same way. Suppose a war is fought on the western border: the Union could direct a border State on policing and supplies without dismissing its elected government.

The effect on Fundamental Rights is set out in two Articles that work differently. Under Article 358, the freedoms of Article 19 are suspended automatically as soon as a national emergency is proclaimed on the ground of war or external aggression; since the 44th Amendment this does not happen in an emergency declared for armed rebellion. Under Article 359, the President may by order suspend the right to move any court to enforce the rights named in the order, but the 44th Amendment made Articles 20 and 21, protection in respect of conviction and the right to life and personal liberty, untouchable even then. Both Articles protect only laws that state they are connected with the emergency. In ADM Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla (1976) the Supreme Court held that, while the 1975 order was in force, a detained person could not file a habeas corpus petition; in K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017) the Court declared that view wrong and overruled it.

President's Rule under Article 356 is the emergency used most often. If the President is satisfied, on the Governor's report or otherwise, that a State's government cannot be carried on in accordance with the Constitution, the President may assume the State's executive functions, declare that the State legislature's powers will be exercised by or under the authority of Parliament, and make other necessary provisions. In practice the Governor, normally helped by advisers, administers the State for the President. The elected assembly may be put on hold or brought to an end, yet nothing in Article 356 lets the President take over any power of the High Court. Under Article 357, Parliament may hand its law-making power for the State to the President, and when the Lok Sabha is not in session the President may authorise spending from the State's Consolidated Fund pending Parliament's sanction. The provision was first used in Punjab in 1951 and has since been applied many times in many States.

President's Rule is held in check by time limits. The proclamation must be approved by both Houses of Parliament within two months, by a simple majority, and then lasts six months at a time, up to a maximum of three years. Under the 44th Amendment it can be continued beyond one year only if two conditions are both met: a national emergency is in force in the whole of India or in the whole or part of the State, and the Election Commission certifies that elections to the State assembly cannot be held because of difficulties. Set this beside Article 352 and three differences stand out. Parliament gets a longer window here (two months, not one), a plain majority of those voting is enough, and the three-year ceiling has no counterpart for a national emergency, which can be renewed indefinitely. Article 365, seen in Part 2, adds a further route: a State's failure to obey Union directions may itself be treated as grounds for President's Rule.

For decades Article 356 was used to dismiss State governments run by rival parties, and the courts were slow to step in. That changed with S.R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994), decided by a nine-judge Bench. The Court held that a proclamation under Article 356 is open to judicial review: the material behind it must be relevant, and a proclamation based on irrelevant or mala fide grounds can be struck down. Whether a ministry still commands a majority is to be settled by a vote in the assembly itself, not by the Governor's private assessment. The assembly should not be dissolved until Parliament has approved the proclamation, and if the proclamation falls, the Court can restore the dismissed government. The Court also held secularism to be part of the basic structure. In Rameshwar Prasad v. Union of India (2006) the Court applied these principles to hold the 2005 dissolution of the Bihar assembly unconstitutional. The Sarkaria and Punchhi Commissions likewise urged that Article 356 be used only as a last resort.

The third type, the financial emergency under Article 360, may be proclaimed if the President is satisfied that the financial stability or credit of India, or of any part of it, is threatened. Each House must approve it within two months by a simple majority, and once approved it continues until it is revoked, with no time limit and no need for repeated approval. During it, the Union may direct any State to observe principles of financial propriety, and may require a State to reduce the salaries and allowances of its employees and to reserve its Money Bills and financial bills, after they are passed, for the President's consideration. The President may also order cuts in the salaries of Union employees, including judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts, whose pay is otherwise protected. Article 360 has never been invoked. Think of it as the household rule that, in a money crisis, every family member's spending needs the head's approval.

Set side by side, the three emergencies differ in purpose and in the checks on them (see the table). A national emergency is the heaviest: it needs the Cabinet's written decision, a special majority within one month and fresh approval every six months, and it alone touches Fundamental Rights through Articles 358 and 359. President's Rule targets a single State's government, needs only a simple majority within two months, and is capped at three years. A financial emergency needs a simple majority within two months but then runs without limit. All three show the same design as the rest of this chapter: a federation in normal times that the Constitution allows to become close to unitary in a crisis, with the basic structure doctrine, judicial review after Bommai and the 44th Amendment's safeguards standing guard against misuse. This completes the chapter; the quick recap condenses all three parts.

Exam traps

• Since the 44th Amendment the third ground for a national emergency is 'armed rebellion', not 'internal disturbance', and the President acts only on the Union Cabinet's written decision.
• A national emergency needs approval within one month by a special majority in each House, but the Lok Sabha alone can force its revocation by a simple-majority resolution; the Rajya Sabha has no such power.
• Article 358 suspends Article 19 only in an emergency declared for war or external aggression, not for armed rebellion; under Article 359 the enforcement of Articles 20 and 21 can never be suspended.
• A national emergency does not dismiss State governments; Parliament may legislate on State List subjects, but those laws lapse six months after the emergency ends.
• Do not carry the national-emergency rules over to Article 356: here Parliament has two months and needs only a simple majority, the outer limit is three years, and going past the first year requires two things together, a national emergency in force and a certificate from the Election Commission.
• A trap option may say the High Court is suspended during President's Rule; it is not, since Article 356 excludes its powers. Also, Bommai (1994) means the assembly is to be held in suspension, and dissolved only after both Houses have approved the proclamation.
• Article 360 has never been used. Once Parliament approves it, a financial emergency runs with no upper time limit, and it is the only emergency under which the pay of Supreme Court and High Court judges can be reduced.
• Count the national emergencies carefully: proclamations were issued in 1962, 1971 and 1975, and the 1975 proclamation came while the one from 1971 had not yet been revoked, so two were in force together.

Recap

• Part XVIII (Articles 352–360): national emergency, President's Rule, financial emergency; suspension of rights modelled on the Weimar Constitution.
• Article 352: war, external aggression or armed rebellion (44th Amendment); Cabinet's written decision; whole or part of India.
• Approval within one month by special majority; six months at a time; revocation by a Lok Sabha simple-majority resolution; one-tenth of members can demand a special sitting within 14 days.
• Proclamations: 1962 (China), 1971 (Pakistan), 1975 (internal disturbance); the last two revoked in March 1977.
• Effects: Articles 353, 250, 354; Lok Sabha term extendable one year at a time; Article 358 (Article 19) and Article 359 (never 20 and 21); ADM Jabalpur (1976) overruled in Puttaswamy (2017).
• Article 356: Governor's report or otherwise; approval within two months by simple majority; six months at a time, maximum three years; Article 357 for law-making and spending.
• S.R. Bommai (1994): judicial review, floor test, no dissolution before Parliament's approval; Rameshwar Prasad (2006); Sarkaria and Punchhi: last resort.
• Article 360: financial emergency, approval within two months, no maximum period, salary cuts including judges, never used.

Practice questions

Sources

• Constitution of India, Articles 83(2), 172(1), 250, 352–360 and 365 — https://legislative.gov.in/constitution-of-india/
• Constitution (Thirty-eighth Amendment) Act, 1975; (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976; (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978 — https://www.indiacode.nic.in
• Supreme Court of India: ADM Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla (1976); S.R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994); Rameshwar Prasad v. Union of India (2006); K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017) — https://digiscr.sci.gov.in
• Ministry of Home Affairs, Inter-State Council Secretariat: Report of the Sarkaria Commission (1988), Report of the Punchhi Commission (2010) — https://interstatecouncil.gov.in
• Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha records of the Proclamations of Emergency of 1962, 1971 and 1975 and their revocation — https://eparlib.nic.in