Pranab should tell UPA to go jump if it brings laws by ordinance

Is the UPA government waiting for Pranab Mukherjee to pack off the 15th Lok Sabha (by proroguing it) so that it can issue nine ordinances that it couldn’t pass in the last and final session of the house due to the Telangana din? Apparently, yes. There are two reasons to suspect this. First, the Election Commission, which was supposed to announce the election schedule around end-February, after which the code of conduct was to kick in, seems to be taking its time doing so. This means government can technically issue ordinances till the dates are announced. The Election Commission is free to announce its own election time-table - in theory - but in practice it cannot move on dates without government knowing of it, since the plan involves moving huge forces across the country, which requires home ministry concurrence. [caption id=“attachment_1408923” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi. AFP.[/caption] Second, The Indian Express reports that four ministries are working overtime to get draft ordinances cleared by the law and justice department, including four that Rahul Gandhi wants to claim as his own. These, says the newspaper, include the “Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill and the Public Procurement Bill, 2012.”  These are intended to show Rahul Gandhi as an anti-corruption champion. Whether issuing these ordinances in this underhand manner will get the Congress a higher vote share or not remains to be seen, but it at least gives the Congress a talking point. And for an heir apparent who has little to show in terms of personal achievement either inside the house ( he was missing most of the time) or outside it (he was missing in action outside too till recently), getting things done once the house shuts shop is apparently the best way to claim credit. However, there is a clear issue of ethicality and propriety – though these niceties have not held back the UPA government in the past. When it is clear that the work of the 15th Lok Sabha was over on 22 February, using ordinances to get laws passed means the UPA is tying the next government down to its dying moments’ priorities.  It is not only a breach of ethics, but possibly of the law as well. The Express quotes senior lawyer Rajiv Dhawan as saying “this is unconstitutional.” The ordinance could well be challenged in court. Next, the argument that the government can act as long as the Election Commission code does not come into force does not wash. If that was the case, the UPA could well have produced something more than a vote-on-account. But it did not do so. It is quite clear what the President Pranab Mukherjee must do: tell the UPA to pipe down before an election. He should sit on the ordinance till the Election Commission announces its code of conduct and then say, sorry, too late.