Discuss the essential conditions for exercise of the legislative powers by the Governor. Discuss the legality of re-promulgation of ordinances by the Governor without placing them before the Legislature.
Approach · directive: “discuss”
What it asks · Two parts: the conditions Article 213 lays down for the Governor's ordinance-making power, and whether repeated re-promulgation of ordinances without placing them before the Legislature is legal.
It asks 2 things — answer each
- Discuss: the essential conditions for the Governor's legislative powers, especially the ordinance power under Article 213
- Discuss: the legality of re-promulgating ordinances without placing them before the Legislature, with case law
Open with · Article 213 gives the Governor an emergency ordinance power, not a parallel law-making authority; Bihar's 256 ordinances kept alive for up to 14 years show its abuse.
Cover
- Conditions: the Assembly (or both Houses) is not in session, and the Governor is satisfied, on ministers' advice, that immediate action is needed.
- Scope: State subjects only; President's instructions where needed (Article 213(1) provisos); an ordinance invalid as a State Act is void (Article 213(3)).
- Duty: laid before the Legislature; lapses six weeks after reassembly, or earlier if disapproved (Article 213(2)(a)).
- Other legislative powers: summoning, proroguing and dissolving (Article 174), addressing the House (Article 176), assent to or reservation of bills (Article 200).
- D. C. Wadhwa (1987): Bihar promulgated 256 ordinances in 1967–81, kept alive for one to 14 years; re-promulgation held a fraud on the Constitution.
- Krishna Kumar Singh (2017): seven judges held laying mandatory, re-promulgation a fraud on the Constitution, and the Governor's satisfaction open to judicial review.
Close with · D. C. Wadhwa: it is contrary to all democratic norms that the Executive should make law; an ordinance is a bridge to legislation, never a substitute.
Add value (verified)
- Article 213(2)(a) requires every ordinance to be laid before the Legislature and makes it lapse six weeks after reassembly.The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2024), Article 213(2)(a) — Legislative Department ↗“shall be laid before the Legislative Assembly of the State, or where there is a Legislative Council in the State, before both the Houses, and shall cease to operate at the expiration of six weeks from the reassembly of the Legislature”
- D. C. Wadhwa (1987): Bihar's Governor promulgated 256 ordinances between 1967 and 1981 and kept them alive for one to 14 years by re-promulgation.Dr. D. C. Wadhwa v. State of Bihar (Supreme Court, 20 December 1986) - Indian Kanoon ↗“the Governor of Bihar promulgated 256 ordinances between 1967 and 1981 and all these ordinances were kept alive for periods ranging between one to 14 years by repromulgation from time to time”
- Article 213(3): an ordinance is void to the extent it would be invalid as an Act of the State Legislature.The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2024) - Legislative Department ↗“If and so far as an Ordinance under this article makes any provision which would not be valid if enacted in an Act of the Legislature of the State assented to by the Governor, it shall be void”
- D. C. Wadhwa (1987): the ordinance power cannot be perverted to serve political ends; law-making by the Executive is contrary to democratic norms.Dr. D. C. Wadhwa v. State of Bihar (Supreme Court, 20 December 1986) - Indian Kanoon ↗“"perverted to serve political ends". It is contrary to all democratic norms that the Executive should have the power to make a law”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2022, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 354words · Minimalist IAS
Article 213 lets the Governor make law by ordinance when the Legislature is not sitting. It is an emergency power, not a parallel legislature. Yet Bihar's Governor promulgated 256 ordinances between 1967 and 1981 and kept them alive for one to 14 years.
Essential conditions for the Governor's legislative powers
- Recess: the Legislative Assembly, or both Houses where there is a Council, must not be in session.
- Satisfaction: circumstances must need immediate action; the Governor acts on the Council of Ministers' advice, and his satisfaction is open to review for mala fides.
- Competence: only State subjects; where a bill would need the President's sanction or reservation, his prior instructions are required (provisos to Article 213(1)).
- Validity: an ordinance that would be invalid as an Act of the State Legislature is void (Article 213(3)); none may infringe fundamental rights.
- Accountability: it must be laid before the Legislature and lapses six weeks after reassembly, or earlier if disapproved (Article 213(2)(a)).
- Other powers: summoning, proroguing and dissolving the Assembly (Article 174), addressing it (Article 176), and assent to or reservation of bills (Article 200).
- Recess and urgency
- Ordinance on Cabinet advice
- Laid before the House
- Enacted as law, or lapses six weeks after reassembly
Legality of re-promulgation without placing ordinances before the Legislature
- D. C. Wadhwa v. State of Bihar (1987): Bihar kept ordinances alive by re-promulgating them without legislative approval; the Court held this a fraud on the Constitution, a power that cannot be 'perverted to serve political ends'.
- Krishna Kumar Singh v. State of Bihar (2017): a seven-judge Bench held that laying an ordinance before the Legislature is mandatory, that re-promulgation is a fraud on the Constitution, and that the Governor's satisfaction is not immune from judicial review.
- Why it is illegal: re-promulgation turns a six-week stopgap into permanent law and bypasses the House; only enactment can give an ordinance lasting life.
As the Court said in D. C. Wadhwa, 'It is contrary to all democratic norms that the Executive should have the power to make a law'. An ordinance survives that test only as a bridge to legislation, never as a substitute for it.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
