Athul Mohan, National Law School of India University
Introduction
The constitution of India envisages separation of powers between the legislature, executive, and judiciary. However, this separation of power is not a rigid one.1 One of the most evident examples of this is the power of the executive to issue ordinances. Articles 123 and 213 of the Indian constitution empower the president and governor to issue ordinances to deal with situations of emergency. These powers raise some pertinent questions on the separation of power. T. Venkata Reddy and Others v. State of Andhra Pradesh2( T.V Reddy case hereafter) becomes relevant as it dealt with some of these pertinent questions.
Facts of the case
The governor of Andhra Pradesh using his power under Article 213 issued the Andhra Pradesh abolition of posts of part-time village officers ordinance in 1984. Section 3 of this ordinance abolished the post of part-time village officers. The petitioners who lost their job argued that there was no “application of mind” by the governor in issuing this ordinance. Broadly they were arguing that there was no necessity for promulgating the ordinance. The government of Andhra Pradesh failed to pass an act in concurrence with the ordinance and as a result, the ordinance lapsed. It was claimed by the petitioners that this made the ordinance void ab initio, which would revive their posts. This writ petition was heard by a five-member bench consisting of Y.V Chandrachud C.J., D.A Desai, O. Chinnappa Reddy, E.S Venkataramiah, and Ranganath Misra.
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