Q. With reference to the ordinance making power of Governor and President, consider the following statements:
1. Contrary to the President, the Governor can issue an ordinance only when both Houses of a bicameral state legislature are not in session
2. Unlike the President, the Governor cannot make ordinance on the subjects listed in the Concurrent List.
3. An ordinance issued by both of them becomes ineffective only after six months of reassembly of Parliament/state legislature.
4. Unlike President, the power of Governor to issue ordinances is a discretionary power.
How many of the above given statements are correct?
Exp) Option d is the correct answer.
An ordinance is any law promulgated by the President/ Governor when the Parliament/State Legislative assembly is not in session.
Statement 1 is incorrect: The Governor can only promulgate an ordinance when both Houses of the state legislature are not in session (in the case of a bicameral legislature) or when either of the two Houses of the state legislature is not in session. So, an ordinance can be promulgated by the Governor even if one House (in the case of a bicameral legislature) is in session, because a law can be passed by both Houses, not just one.
Statement 2 is incorrect: The Governor’s ordinancemaking authority is coextensive with the state legislature’s legislative authority. This means that he/she can only issue ordinances on subjects that the state legislature can legislate on. It means that he/she can promulgate ordinance also on the subjects mentioned in the Concurrent List.
Statement 3 is incorrect: An ordinance issued by the both the President and Governor becomes ineffective six weeks after the reassembly of Parliament/state legislature. It may be terminated earlier than the six-week period if both Houses of Parliament pass resolutions opposing it (or legislative assembly passes a resolution opposing it and the legislative council agrees).
Statement 4 is incorrect: The ordinance-making authority of both President and Governor is not discretionary. This means that they can only issue or withdraw an ordinance with the advice of the respective Council of Ministers.
