Emergency Provisions — MCQs with Answers (Set 1)

All three statements are correct. Part IX A, added by the 74th Constitutional Amendment (1992), deals with the Municipalities (Articles 243P-243ZG). Part XVIII (Articles 352-360) covers Emergency Provisions. Part XX (Article 368) sets out the procedure for amending the Constitution. So the correct answer is 1, 2 and 3.

Article 360 deals with a Financial Emergency. It has never been proclaimed. Article 352 covers a National Emergency and Article 356 covers President’s Rule.

The 44th Amendment replaced “internal disturbance” with “armed rebellion”. Internal disturbance short of armed rebellion is no longer a ground for a National Emergency.

The Court held that a Proclamation under Article 356 is not immune from judicial review.

Article 356(4) says no such Proclamation shall in any case remain in force for more than three years.

Article 359(1) excepts Articles 20 and 21 from suspension of the right to move court.

Article 352(4) says the Proclamation ends at the expiration of one month unless both Houses approve it.

Article 352 lets the President declare a National Emergency on grounds of war, external aggression or armed rebellion.

The answer is 1 and 2 only. Provisions on elections and citizenship took effect on 26 November 1949, while emergency provisions and the rest of the Constitution came into force only on 26 January 1950.

The answer is the claim about a Governor declaring financial emergency. Under Article 360, only the President can proclaim a financial emergency; state Governors have no such power.

The answer is Health Emergency. The Constitution provides for exactly three kinds of Emergency: National (Article 352), President’s Rule in a State (Article 356), and Financial (Article 360). Health Emergency is not one of them.

The correct answer is (b). Article 356(1)(b) says the powers of the State Legislature become exercisable by or under the authority of Parliament. The Assembly is not automatically dissolved. It can be kept in suspended animation. Article 19 is not suspended by Article 356; that happens under Articles 358-359. The President does not make State laws on his own. Parliament may confer that power on the President under Article 357(1)(a), but this is not an automatic result of Article 356. Read more.

The correct answer is (b) 1 and 3 only. Removal of the State Council of Ministers IS a necessary consequence of President’s Rule. Dissolution of the State Legislative Assembly and dissolution of local bodies are NOT necessary consequences — the Assembly can simply be suspended, and local bodies are untouched by Article 356. Read more.

Following the SR Bommai case, courts can examine whether the President’s ‘satisfaction’ for imposing Article 356 was based on relevant material and was not mala fide or wholly irrational, without substituting their own judgment on the underlying facts.

Laws made by Parliament or the President during President’s Rule continue to operate even after the Emergency ends, until they are repealed or altered by the competent legislature.

Article 360, providing for a Financial Emergency, is notable for never having been invoked in India’s constitutional history.

During the operation of a National Emergency under Article 352, Parliament becomes competent to make laws on subjects normally reserved for the State List.

Unlike the President, a State Governor has no independent emergency powers; emergency proclamations for a State are the President’s prerogative alone.

During a Financial Emergency, the President can direct that Money Bills and other Financial Bills passed by a State Legislature be reserved for the President’s consideration.

During a Financial Emergency, the President may direct a reduction in salaries of persons serving the Union or the States, and this can extend even to judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts.

A Financial Emergency proclamation ceases to operate after two months unless approved by resolutions of both Houses of Parliament within that period.

A Financial Emergency under Article 360 has never actually been proclaimed in India, making it one of the Constitution’s unused provisions.