Question

Identify the right statement/s from the list given below.

1. With the proclamation of Art. 358 Article 19 will be automatically suspended.
2. With the proclamation of Art. 359 Article 19 will be automatically suspended.
3. The constitutionality of a declaration of emergency can be questioned in court.
4. Art. 360 has been used three times since independence.

• A. 3, 4
• B. 1, 3
• C. All
• D. 1, 4

Answer 1

Answer:

B. 1, 3

• 1. With the proclamation of Art. 358 Article 19 will be automatically suspended. This is correct. Article 358 states that when a Proclamation of Emergency is in operation, the provisions of Article 19 (which deals with six freedoms) are automatically suspended.

• 2. With the proclamation of Art. 359 Article 19 will be automatically suspended. This is incorrect. Article 359 empowers the President to suspend the right to move any court for the enforcement of fundamental rights (except Article 20 and 21) during a National Emergency, but this suspension is not automatic for Article 19. Article 358 specifically deals with the automatic suspension of Article 19.

• 3. The constitutionality of a declaration of emergency can be questioned in court. This is correct. The 44th Amendment Act of 1978 introduced changes to the emergency provisions, and the Supreme Court in the Minerva Mills case (1980) further clarified that the proclamation of emergency can be challenged in a court of law on the ground of malafide or that the decision was based on wholly extraneous and irrelevant facts or was absurd or perverse.

• 4. Art. 360 has been used three times since independence. This is incorrect. Article 360 deals with Financial Emergency. A Financial Emergency has never been proclaimed in India since independence.