ordinance

When either House of Parliament is not in session and the President is satisfied that circumstances require immediate action, he may promulgate an ordinance, which has the same force as an Act of Parliament. The Governor has the same power for a State. The power is exercised on the advice of the Council of Ministers.

An ordinance must be laid before the legislature and ceases six weeks after it reassembles unless approved earlier. It is subject to the same limits as legislation and can be struck down for violating fundamental rights. The President's satisfaction is open to judicial review, and repeated re-promulgation without placing the ordinance before the legislature is a fraud on the Constitution.

Example

The Bihar government's practice of re-promulgating the same ordinance for years without placing it before the legislature was struck down.

In Indian law

• Articles 123 and 213, Constitution of India
• D.C. Wadhwa v. State of Bihar, 1986 INSC 280
• Krishna Kumar Singh v. State of Bihar, 2017 INSC 1

See also

legislation · separation of powers · money bill

Read more in the study notes

• Separation of powers and its bearing on administrative law (Administrative Law)
• Classification of administrative action (Administrative Law)
• Central Vigilance Commission, parliamentary committees and commissions of inquiry (Administrative Law)
• History and evolution of banking in India (Banking Law)
• Concurrent and consecutive sentences; appeals, revision and reference (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
• Reference, review and revision; caveat, restitution and the inherent powers of the court (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)