- In 1977, the new Janata Government dismissed State governments headed by Congress Chief Ministers and dissolved the Assemblies on the ground that they had lost the people's mandate.
- The matter was carried to the Supreme Court in the State of Rajasthan v. Union of India.
- A seven-judge bench dismissed the petition on several preliminary grounds, including its refusal to get into the thicket of political questions.
- Some judges even held that presidential satisfaction in invoking Article 356 of the Constitution was not justiciable.
- Mrs. Gandhi's return in 1980 saw her return the favour by dismissing Janata Party governments in the States. This action went unchallenged in the courts in the wake of the Rajasthan judgment.
- The Supreme Court in Kihoto Hollohan v. Zachillhu and Others ruled that the Speaker's decisions on disqualification were subject to judicial review.
- The destruction of the Babri Masjid saw P.V. Narasimha Rao's government dismiss four State governments lead by the BJP. In 1994, the challenge to this dismissal and earlier impositions of President's Rule came to be decided by a nine-judge bench in the S.R. Bommai v. Union of India case.
- The judgment held that the President's satisfaction in the invocation of Article 356 could be inquired into by the courts
- It upheld the dismissal of the BJP governments to protect secularism, which was part of the Constitution's basic structure
- It held that the President was required to act on objective material and that Article 356 could only be resorted to when there was a breakdown of constitutional machinery as distinguished from an ordinary breakdown of law and order.
- The court also held that in no case should a State Assembly be dissolved without Parliament approving the proclamation, and that a test of numerical strength could only be conducted on the floor of the Assembly and not outside it.
- Relying on a Pakistani Supreme Court decision in Nawaz Sharif's case, the judgment ruled that an improperly dismissed government could be restored to office.
- The doctrine in Bommai came to be applied by the Supreme Court in the Bihar case of Rameshwar Prasad & Ors v. Union of India
- In 2005, Governor Buta Singh, after an inconclusive election, recommended the dissolution of the State Assembly, without it being convened even once.
- The Court struck down the imposition as unconstitutional but refused to restore the Assembly because another election had already been ordered
- Since 1994, the instances of the imposition of President's rule have dwindled considerably
- The question is of the willingness of the judiciary to cut through the political thicket in time to be of consequence to the political process.
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Supreme court rulings in cases of state government dismissals : centre state relation : GS 2 : IAS
In 1977, the new Janata Government dismissed State governments headed by Congress Chief Ministers and dissolved the Assemblies on the ground...