✏️ Sample Solved Problem (IRAC Method) — KSLU Constitutional Law 2 Notes

✏️ Sample Solved Problem (IRAC Method)

Problem: On the Governor’s recommendation, President’s Rule is imposed on a State and its Ministry dismissed without giving the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers an opportunity to prove their majority on the floor of the House. The Chief Minister challenges it. Decide.

I — Issue

Whether President’s Rule under Article 356 is valid when imposed on the Governor’s report alone, without testing the Ministry’s majority on the floor of the House.

R — Rule

• Article 356 allows President’s Rule where the State government cannot be carried on in accordance with the Constitution — but the proclamation is justiciable.
• S.R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994): the floor of the House is the only legitimate test of a government’s majority — not the Governor’s subjective assessment; a proclamation on extraneous or mala fide grounds, denying a floor test, is liable to be struck down, and the assembly can even be revived.

A — Analysis

The decoy is the Governor’s report, which tempts the view that the Centre may act on it. Bommai squarely rejects that: majority is to be proved on the floor, and dismissing a Ministry without that opportunity is constitutionally impermissible. The Centre’s satisfaction under Art. 356 is reviewable, and a refusal to allow a floor test points to mala fides or irrelevant considerations.

C — Conclusion

The imposition is invalid. Under S.R. Bommai, the Chief Minister was entitled to a floor test; President’s Rule imposed without it is unconstitutional and may be set aside (with the dismissed Ministry/assembly liable to be restored).

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