As regards the point made out by my honourable Friend, Mr. Saksena, that the Proclamation of Emergency once issued, the President under articles 275 or 278 as assumes to himself all or any of the functions of the Government of the State and all or any of the powers vested in or exercisable by the Governor or Ruler so far as the constituent State is concerned; and also he is empowered to declare in so far as that State is concerned, that the powers of the legislature of the State shall be exercisable by or under the authority of Parliament. Therefore, it is very necessary to make a distinction here and to be clear in our minds, in case article 279 is going to be adopted by the House as it is; as to what the “State” as specified in that article actually means. Article 279 as moved by Dr. Ambedkar provides that while a Proclamation of Emergency is in operation nothing in article 13 of Part III of this Constitution shall restrict the power of the State as defined in that Part to make any law or to take etc., etc………. We shall now turn to Part III and find out how ‘State’ has been defined in that Part. The opening article of Part III defines the State as follows : “State includes the Government and Parliament of India and the Government and legislature of each of the States and all local or other authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India.” I need not labour the obvious. We have already adopted articles which provide that once an Emergency Proclamation is issued, the State legislatures and the Governor or Ruler of the State become, More or less funotus officio. The President may assume to himself all powers. To my mind the Ruler or Governor of the State or the State legislature will not be competent to take such action as may be required to further restrict or annual the rights conferred by article 13. Parliament alone, or the President alone can do it. I would prefer if action in this regard is taken by Parliament; that would be a much wiser provision. If we are wise, we will do so; if we are otherwise, we may not do it. In any case, I think, considering that ‘State’ is defined in article 7 in Part III so as to include all local or other authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India, I think it is much wiser to define here exactly what is meant by ‘State’ to obviate all doubts and difficulties and I think it would be much wiser to provide that not the President, but Parliament alone can legislate in this regard.
