During the second reading of the Constitution I made certain observations with regard to this article in the chapter on Emergency Provisions and I tried to mellow the harshness of some of the provisions and to tone down the drastic nature of some of them. I do not at this stage, therefore, propose to say anything, on the merits of the proposition, as the House has accepted the articles dealing with the emergency provisions in the Constitution. Once they have been accepted I suppose there will be room for this article as well. The only point in my amendment is that we must make it clear in the first part of the article as to what the modus operandi should be before the President holds that a situation has arisen in which the government of the State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. If the House will turn for a moment to article 356, there it is laid down that the President cannot act unless and until he receives a report from the Governor or Rajpramukh and he is satisfied. Of course the words “or otherwise” are also there. If the House will turn to article 360 dealing with a financial crisis or emergency there also it is made clear that the President should be satisfied that a situation has arisen whereby the financial stability or credit of India is threatened. In both these articles dealing with emergencies it is specifically and clearly provided that the President must be satisfied, in the first instance, on the report of the Governor or Rajpramukh or otherwise, in whatever way he thinks fit or necessary. In both cases, my honourable Colleges will see that unless the President is satisfied the rest of the article cannot become operative. Therefore I seek through my amendment to make a similar change in this article in conformity with the two articles to which I have just now referred and I would plead with the House that they accept my amendment, so that the article will be quite clear on this point, that once the President is satisfied that a State has failed to comply with or give effect to any directions of the Government of India, then he may hold that a situation has arisen where his special powers will have to be invoked. I, therefore, commend my amendment for the acceptance of the House.
