ORDINANCE
- POLITY
News:
Issue ordinance for MSP guarantee, then
continue talks, farmers tell Centre
What's
in the news?
●
Recently, the farmers in Punjab and
Haryana asked the Union government to bring an ordinance for a legal guarantee
of Minimum Support Price (MSP) on crops.
Ordinance:
●
An ordinance is any law promulgated by the
President when the Indian parliament is not in session.
●
These ordinances have the same legal force
and effect as an Act of Parliament, but they are only temporary in nature.
Ordinance
Making Power of President:
·
Article
123
grants the President certain law-making powers, including the authority to
issue ordinances during Parliament’s recess and hence it is not possible to
enact laws in the Parliament.
·
Following
limitations exist with regards to the president’s ordinance making powers:
·
When one or either of the two Houses of
Parliament is not in session, the President may promulgate an Ordinance.
·
The President cannot issue an Ordinance
unless he is satisfied that the situation necessitates ‘immediate action.’
·
The President’s authority to issue
ordinances is justiciable if intentions are proved mala fide.
Ordinance
Making Power of Governor:
·
Article 213 states that the Governor of
the state may issue ordinances when the state legislative assembly (or either
of the two Houses in states with bicameral legislatures) is not in session.
Features
of the Ordinance:
● An
ordinance can be retrospective,
which means that it can be enacted prior to its approval.
● An
ordinance passed while Parliament is in session is deemed null and void.
● To
stay a law, the Ordinance must be approved by Parliament within six weeks of its reassembly.
○
Its existence is terminated if the
parliament does not act within six weeks of its reassembly.
● Acts,
laws, and events that occurred as a result of the ordinance remain in effect
until it expires.
● Ordinance
promulgation cannot be regarded as a substitute for the President’s legislative
authority.
● Ordinances
can only be passed on subjects where the Indian Parliament has the authority to
pass laws.
● Ordinances
cannot be used to revoke the fundamental
rights of the citizens guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.
● The
ordinance would also be declared null and void if both houses passed a
resolution opposing it.