Emergency Provisions — KSLU Constitutional Law 2 Notes

Emergency Provisions

flowchart TD
    A["Three Emergencies"]:::root
    A --> B["National (Art. 352)<br/>war / external aggression /<br/>armed rebellion"]:::leaf
    A --> C["President's Rule (Art. 356)<br/>failure of constitutional<br/>machinery in a State"]:::leaf
    A --> D["Financial (Art. 360)<br/>threat to financial<br/>stability / credit"]:::leaf

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    classDef leaf fill:#E6F3FF,stroke:#1E3A8A,color:#000;
    linkStyle default stroke:#888,stroke-width:1px;

1. National Emergency (Art. 352) — on war, external aggression or armed rebellion; the federal system turns unitary, Parliament may legislate on State subjects, and Article 19 is suspended (Art. 358) with other rights suspendable by order (Art. 359).
2. President’s Rule (Art. 356) — on the failure of constitutional machinery in a State; the State government is dismissed and administration passes to the Centre.
3. Financial Emergency (Art. 360) — on a threat to India’s financial stability.

After the 1975 abuses, the 44th Amendment (1978) tightened the grounds (replacing “internal disturbance” with “armed rebellion,” requiring written Cabinet advice) and made Articles 20 and 21 unsuspendable even during an Emergency. S.R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994) subjected Art. 356 proclamations to judicial review and held the floor of the House — not the Governor’s report — to be the test of majority.