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Constitution of India · Part VI: The States · Governor

Article 213: Power of Governor to promulgate Ordinances during recess of Legislature

In plain words

When the State Legislature is not in session, the Governor can issue an Ordinance if satisfied that circumstances require immediate action. It has the same force as an Act of the State Legislature assented to by the Governor.

  • The Governor needs the President's instructions for an Ordinance that, as a Bill or Act, would have needed the President's prior sanction, reservation for the President, or the President's assent to be valid.
  • It must be laid before the Legislature and stops operating six weeks after the Legislature reassembles, or earlier if a resolution disapproving it is passed.
  • The Governor can withdraw it at any time, and it is void to the extent it makes provision the State Legislature could not validly enact.

A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.

Read the in-depth explanation, with key Supreme Court rulings ↓

Official text

(1) If at any time, except when the Legislative Assembly of a State is in session, or where there is a Legislative Council in a State, except when both Houses of the Legislature are in session, the Governor is satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary for him to take immediate action, he may promulgate such Ordinances as the circumstances appear to him to require:

Provided that the Governor shall not, without instructions from the President, promulgate any such Ordinance if—

(a) a Bill containing the same provisions would under this Constitution have required the previous sanction of the President for the introduction thereof into the Legislature; or

(b) he would have deemed it necessary to reserve a Bill containing the same provisions for the consideration of the President; or

(c) an Act of the Legislature of the State containing the same provisions would under this Constitution have been invalid unless, having been reserved for the consideration of the President, it had received the assent of the President.

(2) An Ordinance promulgated under this article shall have the same force and effect as an Act of the Legislature of the State assented to by the Governor, but every such Ordinance—

(a) shall be laid before the Legislative Assembly of the State, or where there is a Legislative Council in the State, before both the Houses, and shall cease to operate at the expiration of six weeks from the reassembly of the Legislature, or if before the expiration of that period a resolution disapproving it is passed by the Legislative Assembly and agreed to by the Legislative Council, if any, upon the passing of the resolution or, as the case may be, on the resolution being agreed to by the Council; and

(b) may be withdrawn at any time by the Governor.

Explanation.—Where the Houses of the Legislature of a State having a Legislative Council are summoned to reassemble on different dates, the period of six weeks shall be reckoned from the later of those dates for the purposes of this clause.

(3) If and so far as an Ordinance under this article makes any provision which would not be valid if enacted in an Act of the Legislature of the State assented to by the Governor, it shall be void:

Provided that, for the purposes of the provisions of this Constitution relating to the effect of an Act of the Legislature of a State which is repugnant to an Act of Parliament or an existing law with respect to a matter enumerated in the Concurrent List, an Ordinance promulgated under this article in pursuance of instructions from the President shall be deemed to be an Act of the Legislature of the State which has been reserved for the consideration of the President and assented to by him. * * * * State.

Source: India Code (Legislative Department), the official text of the Constitution of India. As amended up to the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023. Text as on 10 September 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.

Understanding this article

Article 213 gives the Governor the power to make Ordinances when the State Legislature is not in session, on the same pattern as Article 123 for the President, with an added proviso requiring the President's instructions in certain cases.

The two conditions

  • The Legislative Assembly (or both Houses, where there is a Council) is not in session.
  • The Governor is satisfied that circumstances make immediate action necessary. Necessity means an emergent situation, not mere convenience.

When the President's instructions are needed

  • A Bill with the same provisions would have needed the President's previous sanction for introduction.
  • The Governor would have reserved such a Bill for the President.
  • A State Act with the same provisions would be invalid without the President's assent, for example under Article 254(2).

Laying and lapse

The Ordinance must be laid before the Legislature and lapses six weeks after it reassembles unless disapproved earlier or replaced by an Act. Krishna Kumar Singh holds that the duty to lay is mandatory: 'shall be laid' admits no exception, and failing to lay an Ordinance is a serious constitutional breach.

What survives a lapsed Ordinance

The seven-judge Bench in Krishna Kumar Singh rejected the older view that rights created by an Ordinance automatically become permanent once it lapses. Whether actions taken under it survive depends on the test of public interest and constitutional necessity, including whether undoing them is practicable. Ordinances that were a fraud on power create no rights at all.

Key Supreme Court rulings

  • Krishna Kumar Singh v. State of Bihar 2017 INSC 1

    Bihar issued a chain of Ordinances to take over 429 Sanskrit schools, none of which was laid before the Legislature. Every Ordinance was a fraud on constitutional power and of no legal effect; they did not make the teachers government employees, though salaries already paid were not to be recovered. Laying is mandatory, and the President's instructions are needed in the three situations in the proviso.

  • D.C. Wadhwa v. State of Bihar (1987) 1 SCC 378

    Bihar had re-promulgated Ordinances many times over without placing them before the Legislature; the Court held this a colourable exercise of power that usurps the legislative function.

Common mistakes

  • Treating the duty to lay as directory; it is mandatory.
  • Assuming rights under a lapsed Ordinance automatically survive.
  • Ignoring the proviso: some Ordinances need the President's instructions first.

Read with: Article 123 Constitution, Article 254 Constitution, Article 163 Constitution

Prepared with AI assistance as a study aid. Every ruling listed was checked against the Supreme Court's own judgments on this site, and quoted words appear in those judgments; linked names open the full judgment. Read the judgments themselves before relying on them. Not legal advice.

Supreme Court judgments citing the article 213