Sir, I must admit that I am not very happy regarding this particular bill. The hon. Minister has told the house that whenever the president took the authority under article 356 of the constitution and whenever there was the president's proclamation, every time such a bill was brought forward before parliament and approved that bill. It is true, but at the same time, it is also true this kind of routine which is now being followed from time to time is creating a situation in which parliament, which is given a very important function under article 356 of the constitution, is divesting itself of that function. In order to fully appreicate, Sir, the significance of such a move, it is necessary to go into the history of this sort of powers that were conferred on parliament by the constitution in the past. Sir, under the government of India act, 1935 under section 93, some such situation was in case such a situation arose either at the center or in some of the provinces, as they were called at that time. At that time, it was decided that the governor-general should have both the executive as well as the legislative power in his hands in case such situation arose either at the center or in the provinces. Now, the framers of the constitution have not accepted that particular formula when our constitution was framed and have definitely made a distinction between the executive power and the legislative power and they have stated that as far as executive power is concerned, the president can straightway take these powers into his hands through a proclamation but as far as legislative powers are concerned, these powers vest in parliament. The constitution provides that parliament in its turn might delegate these powers to the president or to some authority to be named by him, but obviously, when this distinction between the executive and the legislative power was made in the constitution, it is reasonable to suppose that only under exceptional circumstances the parliament was to delegate the powers.
