State Legislatures

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Article 356 and an activist Judiciary

Article 356 and an activist Judiciary In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this; you must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place oblige it to control itself,’ said James Madison. What is Article 356? Article 356 of the Constitution of India is based on Section 93 of the Government of India Act, 1935. According to Article 356, President’s Rule can be imposed on any stat

Presiding Officers of State Legislature

Presiding Officers of State Legislature The Speaker The Speaker is elected by the assembly itself from amongst its members and remains in office during the life of the assembly. However, he may vacate his office by writing to the Deputy Speaker or be removed by a resolution passed by a majority of all the then members of the assembly or he ceases to be a member of the assembly. Such a resolution can be moved only after giving 14 days' prior notice. Powers and Duties of Speak

Analysis of UP Anti Conversion Ordinance

Analysis of UP Anti Conversion Ordinance Written by: Justice (retd.) Madan B. Lokur is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India Article 213 (1) of the Constitution of India provides: “If at any time, except when the Legislative Assembly of a State is in session, or where there is a Legislative Council in a State, except when both Houses of the Legislature are in session, the Governor is satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary for him to take immediate

SC Judicial Activism and Anti Conversion Law

SC Judicial Activism and Anti-Conversion Law The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to examine the constitutional validity of laws enacted by States, such as Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, that criminalise religious conversion via marriage and mandate prior official clearance before marrying into another faith. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde, however, did not stay the implementation of the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 and the Uttara

Advertising in the name of God is illegal

Advertising in the name of God is illegal The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court has declared that advertisement of any article using the name of any God and claiming that it has supernatural qualities, is “illegal” and falls under the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act. A division bench of justices T.V. Nalawade and M.G. Sewlikar was hearing a petition filed by Rajendra Ambhore, a

Issues relating to the office of Governor

Misuse of Governor’s office The misuse of the Governor’s office to undermine duly elected State governments is a particularly mischievous disruption of federalism. Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan’s frequent use of his powerful oratory to defend the Centre and question the State on sensitive topics makes him partisan and undermines democratic processes. His refusal to convene a special session of the Kerala Assembly on December 23, as initially requested by the gover

Analysis of Anti Conversion Law

Analysis of Anti-Conversion Law Chaudhary Charan Singh, the former Prime Minister, made a proposal to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1954. As a Minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, he wanted Nehru to pass a law so that jobs as gazetted officers could only be for those who wanted to or had married outside their caste. Nehru turned the proposal down because this struck at the exercise of the free will of individual citizens in India. Setting a precedent It is an ind

Puducherry Governor issue

Puducherry Governor issue Governor issues The recent three-day-long protest, led by Puducherry Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, under the banner of the Secular Democratic Progressive Alliance, against Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi came as no surprise, given the strained ties between the two constitutional functionaries. They have been at loggerheads over many matters, most recently on the appointment of the State Election Commissioner, an office critical to holding elections to local

UP Anti Conversion Ordinance, 2020

UP Anti-Conversion Ordinance, 2020 At least 91 persons have been booked and 54 arrested so far, an overwhelming number of them Muslims, under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020. The most number of arrests have been made in Etah (14) followed by Sitapur (13), Mau (8), Gautam Buddha Nagar (4), Azamgarh (3) and Firozabad (3). The FIRs were spread across 14 districts of six administrative zones of the State. The other districts are Moradabad, M

Andhra Pradesh three Capital issue

Andhra Pradesh three Capital issue In Jan 2020, the Andhra Pradesh (AP) government, based on the recommendations of a High Power Committee (HPC), approved a proposal to create three capitals for the state. The Committee had recommended that Visakhapatnam be made the executive capital and Kurnool in the Rayalaseema region the judicial capital. The Committee also suggested that Amaravati could house the governor’s office as well as the state assembly and become the legislativ

State Legislatures and COVID-19

State Legislatures and COVID-19 The COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdown, which affected the functioning of the legislatures of several States last year, had an apparently marginal impact on the working of the Karnataka legislature if the number of sitting days is an indication. Compared with its average number of sitting days of 32 from 2016 to 2019, the Karnataka legislature, which is bicameral, met on 31 days last year, the highest for any State in 2020, according to a

How are new districts carved?

How are new districts carved? Malerkotla recently became the 23rd district in Punjab Section 5 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 says the “State government may, by notification, vary the limits and alter the numbers of tehsils, districts and divisions into which the State is divided”. The power to create new districts or alter or abolish existing districts rests with the State governments. This can either be done through an executive order or by passing a law in the St

West Bengal to get a Legislative Council (LC)

West Bengal to get a Legislative Council (LC) India has a bicameral system i.e., two Houses of Parliament. At the state level, the equivalent of the Lok Sabha is the Vidhan Sabha or Legislative Assembly; that of the Rajya Sabha is the Vidhan Parishad or Legislative Council. How to create a Legislative Council? Under Article 169 of the constitution, Parliament may by law create or abolish the second chamber in a state if the Legislative Assembly of that state passes a res

Pleasure Doctrine & Governor's Duties and Powers

Pleasure Doctrine & Governor's Duties and Powers The governor of Kerala has issued a warning to ministers, stating that any remarks made by a minister that diminish the stature of the governor's office may result in retaliation, including the withholding of pleasure. Pleasure Doctrine: What is it? In accordance with the English common law's "pleasure theory," the monarch is free to terminate any employee's employment at any time. According to Art