What a Proclamation Switches On

In one line

A Proclamation lets the Union direct any State, lets Parliament legislate on State subjects, lets the President rearrange the sharing of revenues, and lets the life of every legislature be extended a year at a time.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: while a Proclamation of Emergency is in operation, article 353 extends the executive power of the Union to the giving of directions to any State as to the manner in which its executive power is to be exercised, and enlarges the power of Parliament to confer powers and impose duties on the Union and its officers in respect of matters not in the Union List. Article 250 empowers Parliament to make laws for the whole or any part of India with respect to any of the matters in the State List. Article 354 empowers the President to direct that the provisions on the distribution of revenues in articles 268 to 279 shall have effect subject to such exceptions or modifications as he thinks fit. And the provisos to articles 83(2) and 172(1) permit Parliament by law to extend the life of the House of the People and of a State Legislative Assembly by not more than one year at a time and not beyond six months after the Proclamation ceases.

Article 353: the executive and legislative effect

Clause (a). Notwithstanding anything in the Constitution, the executive power of the Union shall extend to the giving of directions to any State as to the manner in which its executive power is to be exercised.

Ordinarily, article 256 and article 257 permit directions only for limited purposes. Under a Proclamation the Union may direct a State on any matter within its executive power, which is the single largest change a Proclamation makes to the structure of the federation.

Clause (b). The power of Parliament to make laws with respect to any matter shall include power to make laws conferring powers and imposing duties, or authorising the conferring of powers and the imposition of duties, upon the Union or officers and authorities of the Union as respects that matter, notwithstanding that it is one not enumerated in the Union List.

That is narrower than clause (a) and is often misread. It does not give Parliament the power to legislate on State subjects; that is article 250. What it does is let Parliament, when legislating, confer functions on Union officers even in a field that is not the Union's.

The proviso, added in 1976, deals with a Proclamation in operation in only part of India. The Union's power to direct under clause (a) and Parliament's power under clause (b) extend also to a State outside the emergency area if and in so far as the security of India or any part of its territory is threatened by activities in or in relation to the area where the Proclamation is in operation.