United States Constitution and Article
AARTICLE 356 OF INDIAN CONSTITUTION - BOON OR BANE? Indian Constitution is quasi-federal in nature. In the view of K.C. Wheare Indian Constitution has established a system of Government which is at the most quasi-federal, almost devolutionary in character, a unitary state with subsidiary federal features rather than a federal state with subsidiary unitary features. Our constitution says “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States”. Unlike U.S. Constitution which is typically federal in nature Indian constitution envisages a constitution set up in which the states will compromise the federal nature in the national interest or for maintaining the unitary feature of the administration. One such instance where state loses its federal nature and total independence is when there is operation of Article 356 of the constitution in the state. This is one of the situations where in the state is totally under the control of the Union. Our constitution makers with lot of foresight had incorporated this provision, to invoke only in the rarest of the rare circumstances when there are circumstances justifying emergency as given under Article 355. But ever since the origin of the constitution this article is being misused because of power politics and political high handedness, and more often state governments have been made the scapegoat of ‘non-practical politics’ and have been made to quit office under the constitutional umbrella of Article 356. The Draft Constitution Section 188 had given whole powers for the Governor in matters regarding proclamation of emergency; Clause (4) of Article 188 evidences this fact. Furthermore, under Article 278 the report of the governor was made a condition precedent for the president to proclaim emergency in the state. Later when the matter within the constituent Assembly regarding manner of election of president was settled down Article 278 was side-lined and a new Article, 277 A (the present Article 355) was introduced. In