SC notice to Centre on plea seeking to declare 1975 Emergency as “wholly unconstitutional”

PTI, Dec 14, 2020, 2:29 PM IST

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Centre on a plea filed by a 94-year-old woman seeking to declare as “wholly unconstitutional” the proclamation of Emergency in 1975.

While agreeing to hear the plea, a bench headed by Justice S K Kaul said the apex court would also examine whether it is “feasible or desirable” for it to examine the validity of proclamation of Emergency after a lapse of 45 years.

“We are having difficulty. Emergency is something which should not have happened,” the top court observed while hearing the plea.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for petitioner Veera Sarin, said that Emergency was a “fraud” and the “greatest assault” on the Constitution as rights were suspended for months.

Emergency was proclaimed minutes before the midnight of June 25, 1975 by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The proclamation was revoked in March 1977.