News:Recently,the central government had invoked Rule 12 of the Government of India(Transaction of Business) Rules to revoke the President’s Rule in Maharashtra.
Facts:
What is Rule 12?
- Rule 12 of the Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961 allows the Prime Minister to depart from laid down norms at his discretion.
- The rule says that the Prime Minister may in cases or classes of cases permit or condone a departure from these rules to the extent he deems necessary.
- The Cabinet can subsequently give post-facto approval for any decision taken under Rule 12.
- The rule also stipulates that to invoke it,the proposal should be accompanied by a detailed justification clearly bringing out the urgency involved in the matter and the exceptional circumstances that require it to be processed.
Under what circumstances is Rule 12 used?
- Rule 12 is usually not used to arrive at major decisions by the government.
- However, it has been used in matters such as withdrawal of an office memorandum or signing of MoUs in the past.
- The last big decision taken through the invocation of Rule 12 was re-organisation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
