Which of the following are not necessarily the immediate consequences of the…

Concept: A proclamation of President’s Rule under Article 356 does two things by its own force — the President may assume to himself all or any of the functions of the Government of the State and the powers vested in the Governor, and he may declare that the powers of the State Legislature shall be exercisable by or under the authority of Parliament. Only what the Article itself brings about is an automatic consequence; anything that is merely permitted under the proclamation, or that is an ordinary administrative act taken independently of it, is not.

Article 356 does not by itself put an end to the State Legislative Assembly. The Assembly may be dissolved, or it may be kept in “suspended animation” for the duration of the proclamation, and in S. R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994) the Supreme Court held that the Assembly should not be dissolved before both Houses of Parliament have approved the proclamation. Dissolution is therefore a possible outcome, not an inevitable one.

Applying this to each of the four statements:

• (a) Dissolution of the State Assembly — the proclamation transfers the legislative power of the State to Parliament, but the House itself can be left intact in suspended animation and revived when the proclamation is revoked. Its dissolution is a separate decision, and under Bommai it cannot even be effected until Parliament approves.

• (b) Removal of the Council of Ministers in the State — the functions the President assumes are exactly the functions the Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister was exercising. The two cannot coexist, so the ministry ceases to hold office the moment the proclamation takes effect.

• (c) Takeover of the State administration by the Union Government — this is what “the President may assume to himself all or any of the functions of the Government of the State” means in practice: the State executive is thereafter carried on by the Governor as the President’s agent, answerable to the Union. It follows directly from Article 356(1)(a).

• (d) Appointment of a new Chief Secretary — the Chief Secretary is a serving career civil servant and the State’s permanent administrative machinery continues to run unbroken under the Governor. Nothing in Article 356 requires the post to be filled afresh; a change, if made, is an ordinary personnel decision that could equally be taken at any other time.

Cross-check — what the proclamation itself effects:

Result: The consequences that follow necessarily and immediately are the removal of the Council of Ministers and the Union’s takeover of the State administration. The two that do not follow necessarily are the dissolution of the State Assembly and the appointment of a new Chief Secretary — that is, (a) and (d).