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What was the Emergency?
On June 12, 1975, the Allahabad High Court had declared the election of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as null and void. Following the court decision, Gandhi moved the Supreme Court and a vacation bench of justice Krishna Iyer stayed the high court’s decision allowing Gandhi to remain as PM while limiting her right to vote in the parliament till the appeal was decided. Following an opposition rally for the resignation of Indira Gandhi, she made a decision to impose a national Emergency which would give the central government sweeping powers.
On June 25, 1975 then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed relying on Article 352 of the Constitution declared a national Emergency in the country. The notification of the proclamation of Emergency was published in the official gazette on June 26, 1975 when it took effect.
The Supreme Court was initially reluctant to take up the petition (File)
New Delhi:
Whether the Emergency of 1975 imposed by the Indira Gandhi-led Congress government can be declared wholly unconstitutional after so many years will be examined by the Supreme Court, which today asked the centre to respond to a petition filed by a 94-year-old woman.
A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said it would examine whether it would be feasible or desirable for it to go into the validity of the proclamation of Emergency after a lapse of 45 years. We are inclined to see whether a simpliciter declaration on Emergency is feasible or desirable after passage of time, the judges said.